Twitter Tests Feature Urging Users to Actually Read Articles Before Sharing Them

Social media platform Twitter is reportedly testing a new feature that shows users a message urging them to read the article linked in a tweet before retweeting it to their own followers.

Business Insider reports that social media platform Twitter is testing a new feature that will display a warning message to users that attempt to retweet an article on the site without clicking on it as part of an effort to “help promote informed discussion.”

The company stated in a tweet: “Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you Tweet it.”

The move appears to be part of Twitter’s broader efforts to steer discourse on its platform in recent months. In May, Twitter unveiled a new feature that allows users to select who can reply to their tweets in an attempt to reduce divisive arguments on the platform.

Twitter has also greatly increased its attempts to fact-check users on its platform, including President Trump. Breitbart News reported that on May 26, Twitter added a “fact check” label to a pair of tweets from President Trump expressing widely-held concerns about mail-in ballots increasing the risk of voter fraud. The “fact check” link, which urged users to “get the facts about mail-in ballots,” directed users to a Twitter “moment” — a collection of links and tweets, handpicked by Twitter employees.

The “moment,” intended to fact-check the President, was filled with establishment media articles from CNN, the Washington Post and other outlets, baselessly asserting that Trump was lying about mail-in ballots. This is reportedly the first time the social media platform has branded Trump’s tweets with a link to a “fact check” of this type.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey attempted to defend the company’s actions, stating in a tweet: “Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. Please leave our employees out of this. We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make.”

The social media site has also begun aggressively fact-checking tweets that push conspiracy theories about 5G and a link to the Wuhan coronavirus. However, the company’s fact-checking system is reportedly making mistakes in tagging tweets.

Many tweets that simply mention 5G and coronavirus in the same sentence are being targeted by Twitter’s fact-checking AI, which marks the tweets with a large link that states “Get the facts about COVID-19” and redirects users to a Twitter Moments page with the latest news and info about the virus.

Paul Barrett, a professor at New York University, commented on the issue stating:

The basic inclination to root out conspiracy theories on significant topics of public interest is to be applauded and not made fun of or scorned.

However, if you’re finding that high an error rate they clearly need to be paying closer attention. And they probably need to be paying more human attention.

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