Twitter has adopted a new anti-misinformation policy to combat the spread of dangerously false content. The policy is part of an attempt by the social network to promote accurate and truthful information in times of conflict or crisis.
Starting Thursday, the platform will no longer automatically recommend misleading content about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including material that distorts conditions in conflict zones or contains falsehoods about war crimes or atrocities against civilians.
Under its new “Policy Against Disinformation in Times of Crisis,” Twitter will also put warning labels on all unfounded information about ongoing humanitarian crises, the San Francisco-based company announced. You will not be able to like, forward or reply to messages that violate the new rules.
With it, Twitter becomes the latest social network to try to combat disinformation, propaganda and rumours, which have proliferated since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Harmful content ranges from unintentionally spread rumors to propaganda spread by Russian diplomats or by fake accounts linked to Russian intelligence services.
“We have seen both sides sharing information that could be misleading or misrepresented,” said Yoel Roth, director of security and integrity for Twitter, who detailed the new policy to reporters.
“Our policy does not distinguish between the sides. The idea is to combat all misinformation that could be dangerous, regardless of where it comes from,” he added.
The new policy will complement Twitter’s existing rules that ban digitally manipulated content, false claims about elections and false claims about public health issues such as COVID-19 and vaccines.
However, they could clash with the views of Elon Musk, the billionaire who has agreed to pay $44 billion to buy Twitter in order to turn it, he says, into a haven for “free expression.”
Musk hasn’t given many examples of what he means, though he has said Twitter should only ban posts that violate the law, which if taken literally would include measures against most disinformation, personal attacks and harassment. Musk has also criticized the algorithms used by Twitter and other social networks to recommend certain content to users.
The new policy will cover conflict, natural disasters, humanitarian crises or “any situation where there is a widespread threat to public safety or health,” Roth said.
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