Read on Twitter
NEW: Twitter is making big changes to prevent election misinformation from going viral. First, it is slowing down & discouraging retweets. When you try to share a tweet, you'll be asked to add your own views first in a quote tweet. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/09/technology/twitter-election-ban-features.html
Second, Twitter is turning off the recommendation algorithm, which surfaces tweets that people you follow have liked. Lots of users have complained about this algorithm, but these kinds of algos are used to drive growth and I can't think of another company ever disabling one.
Third, Twitter is adding context tabs for ALL trends seen in the "For You" pages of users in the United States. Trends have been blamed for a lot of low-quality content going viral. I wrote about earlier efforts to fact-check Trends here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/01/technology/twitter-trending-topics.html
And finally, Twitter is expanding fact-check labels. When someone tries to share a tweet that's been marked as false, they will see a pop-up that asks if they're sure they want to spread the info.
These are some of the biggest product changes I've seen from a social media company in response to election misinformation. Now the big question: Will it work? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/09/technology/twitter-election-ban-features.html
