You may soon notice a new feature on your Twitter feed. (Don’t get too excited; it’s not that sexy.) The social media platform is now marking tweets it considers “potentially harmful” when it comes to inaccurate or misleading information about COVID-19.
We hope you aren’t relying solely on Twitter to keep you abreast of the developing coronavirus pandemic (the CDC and the WHO are probably your most reliable sources for that), but if you, like us, enjoy a little humor around what would otherwise be the world’s terrifying new reality, you probably look up the ‘rona on Twitter from time to time just to see how other people are coping (or not). Along the way, you might encounter misinformation or downright fake news.
In a move that mimics steps already taken by Facebook and Google to label faulty intel, tweets about coronavirus that contradict advice from reputable health experts will be hidden with a warning (that you can disregard with a click). Those that make false claims – like that face masks do more harm than good or than social distancing is useless – will be removed.
Cover Photo: Twitter
Photo: Twitter
“Our goal is to make it easy to find credible information on Twitter and to limit the spread of potentially harmful and misleading content,” said Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of site integrity, and Nick Pickles, Twitter’s director of public policy strategy, wrote in a blog post.
While we think this is a surprisingly responsible and timely precaution to take, we wish Twitter had thought of this sooner in regards to other idiots vomiting their dumb opinions on our feeds. Then again, if they did have an idiot blocker, Donald Trump wouldn’t even have a Twitter account, and where would we get our entertainment from?
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Help Prevent the Spread of the Coronavirus
Visit the Centers for Disease Control at CDC.gov or the World Health Organization at Who.int for the latest information on the coronavirus and learn what you can do to stop the spread.
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