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Micro-blogging platform Twitter on Thursday, 19 May, announced that it is introducing a "crisis misinformation policy" that would ensure viral misinformation or misleading content is not amplified or recommended by the platform during major crisis times, such as situations of "armed conflict, public health emergencies, and large-scale natural disasters".
With the focus on the war in Ukraine by Russia, which began on 24 February, the policy would focus on international armed conflict and said that it will keep on adding more forms of crisis.
As soon as there is evidence that a content is misleading, it would not be amplified or recommended in the platform, which would include the Home timeline, search as well as explore option, it read.
Additionally, verified account or handle, which has high visibility, a warning notice would be added in such tweets, if found misleading.
The notices will be, "False coverage or event reporting, or information that mischaracterizes conditions on the ground as a conflict evolves", "Demonstrably false or misleading allegations of war crimes or mass atrocities against specific populations", among others.
Moreover, the tweets that will have a warning notice, that users need to click before reading/watching the content, the likes, shares and retweets will be disabled for them.
"We’ve found that not amplifying or recommending certain content, adding context through labels, and in severe cases, disabling engagement with the Tweets, are effective ways to mitigate harm, while still preserving speech and records of critical global events," it added.
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