Twitter has announced a new feature for users in an effort to stem the spread of potentially harmful misinformation. The new feature prompts users to "read the article before you retweet it" and shows up when people try to retweet a story that they haven't clicked through to actually read themselves.
It is hoped the changes will help create more informed discussions if people are at least prepared to read what they are sharing.
The company shared data from trials of the feature earlier this year in June, which shows how people responding to the prompt opened articles 40% more often and that the overall proportion of people opening articles before retweeting increased by 33%.
In an effort to help start healthier conversations we want to help people know what they are sharing, so when someone is about to retweet an article but they haven't clicked into the linked article, they'll see a prompt asking if they'd like to open the article before sharing.
Lauren Alexander, Spokesperson, Twitter
This latest move follows the introduction earlier this year of labels and warning notices being used to alert Twitter users of unreliable or misleading information regarding COVID-19, as well as providing access to guidance on COVID-19 from authoritative sources of global and local public health information.
The overall intention to reduce the spread of misinformation by asking users to think more about the source and validity of what they are sharing has been met with a largely positive response; however, some experts argue that the changes do little to stop state actors or anyone else intentionally working to spread misinformation.
Serving the public conversation remains our overarching mission, and we'll keep working to build tools and offer context so that people can find credible and authentic information on Twitter.
Twitter Blog
Twitter has focused their narrative on the testing and effectiveness of these new measures, as well as their plans to roll out the feature to all users. They have also spoken of their intention to continue developing innovative new ways of enabling healthy and informed public conversation.