Twitter launches fact-checking program called birdwatch where users can flag any tweet they think is misleading or inaccurate

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Twitter launched a fact-checking program on Monday designed to bolster its efforts to fight misleading or inaccurate data by permitting users to function in a method much like Wikipedia to flag probably misleading tweets.

The program called “Birdwatch”, will enable users to debate and supply context to tweets they imagine are misleading or false. The pilot program will first be rolled out as a standalone part of Twitter, for a small, pre-selected set of US-based users through the testing stage

“Birdwatch permits individuals to establish data in Tweets they imagine is misleading or false, and write notes that present informative context,” Twitter Vice President of Product Keith Coleman wrote in a press release. “We imagine this method has the potential to reply rapidly when misleading data spreads, including context that individuals belief and discover precious.”

While Birdwatch will initially be cordoned off to a separate part of Twitter, the corporate mentioned “eventually we aim to make notes visible directly on Tweets for the global Twitter audience, when there is consensus from a broad and diverse set of contributors.”

No account or tweet is exempt from being flagged, that means the users, called the Birdwatchers, will be capable of add ‘context’ to tweets posted by anybody, together with information shops, reporters and elected officers.

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Twitter, together with different social media firms have been searching for numerous methods in latest months to fight misinformation. Despite tightened guidelines and enforcement, falsehoods concerning the U.S 2020 election and the coronavirus are believed to have continued to unfold.

During the piloting stage of the program, the San Francisco-based firm mentioned it needs to deal with making the Birdwatch “resistant to manipulation attempts and ensure it is not dominated by a simple majority or biased based on its distribution of contributors.”

Birdwatch will begin with 1,000 users within the U.S and steadily develop to different users around the globe.

“If we have more applicants than pilot slots, we will randomly admit accounts, prioritizing accounts that tend to follow and engage with different audiences and content than those of existing participants,” Twitter wrote.