Twitter has announced some temporary changes to its operation to limit the spread of fake news in the weeks leading up to the elections in the United States. Twitter is one of the most used social networks in the world – and the one most used by US President Donald Trump – and after the 2016 elections it was accused of having done little to limit the spread of fake news and attempts to manipulate the elections by the Russia.
From 20 October – and until after the elections – when a Twitter user wants to retweet someone else's message, he will be directed to the screen that allows you to add your own phrase, in the hope that this encourages a more informed sharing of messages. Furthermore, messages that Twitter believes will contain false or inaccurate information can only be seen by users after a warning and a link to a page where they can find more information on the subject of the message. Furthermore, messages reported as containing false or inaccurate information will not be promoted by the Twitter algorithms, cannot be retweeted and will not be able to receive “Like”: they can only be cited and shared by users with the addition of their own message.
In the days of the vote, Twitter will delete messages that disseminate incorrect information on the outcome of the elections and report messages from politicians who will claim electoral victories before the official results. Finally, Twitter will no longer promote tweets from accounts not followed by users themselves in the timelines of users, to limit the spread of potentially false or dangerous messages.
– Read also: After November 3 Facebook will no longer allow political ads in the United States
