Twitter Looking To Let Users Report Fake News

Fake news is a problem that many social medias are trying to get a handle on. We’ve seen how platforms such as Facebook have introduced various tools and algorithms to help hide fake news and give users the option of reporting them, and in a report from The Washington Post, it looks like Twitter is working on something similar as well.

According to the report, Twitter is considering adding a feature which would let users flag posts that might contain false, misleading, or harmful information. This feature is said to be in the prototype stage and its implementation could come in the form of a tiny tab appearing in a drop-down menu next to tweets, giving users the option of flagging tweets should they deem it to be fake or misleading.

However given that many companies do prototype features and products without necessarily releasing them, there’s no guarantee that this feature will see the light of day. When asked about the feature, Twitter spokeswoman Emily Horne said that there are “no current plans to launch” the tool. She was also quoted as saying, “There are no current plans to launch any type of product along these lines,” with regards to whether or not such a tool was being tested.

We guess it remains to be seen if Twitter does launch such tools, but as it stands Twitter already has its hands full in dealing with posts that harass other users, so perhaps they’re trying to focus on one problem at a time.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Twitter