Twitter launches tool to report misleading content ahead of Indian & EU elections
Twitter has launched a dedicated report function to enable users to alert the social media giant about misleading content ahead of the upcoming elections in India and Europe.
Twitter launches report feature for misleading election tweets
The new reporting feature, which launched this week in India, will specifically target content that misleads voters. It will launch in Europe on 29 April and Twitter plans to roll out to other elections globally throughout the year.
In a statement, Twitter said: “Voting is a fundamental human right and the public conversation occurring on Twitter is never more important than during elections. Any attempts to undermine the process of registering to vote or engaging in the electoral process is contrary to our company's core values.
“We are further expanding our enforcement capabilities in this area by creating a dedicated reporting feature within the product to allow users to more easily report this content to us. This is in addition to our existing proactive approach to tackling malicious automation and other forms of platform manipulation on the service.”
The tool will enable users to report tweets containing misleading information about voting and voting requirements, as well as misleading statements or information about the election.
It is the latest move by social media platforms to try and crack down on misleading information and fake news during India’s national election, which sees 900 million people eligible to vote, making it the largest election in the world.
Facebook, Google and Twitter have been working hard to ensure that no country or individual will be able to influence the political campaigning in those Asian countries to avoid similar situations.
Last month Facebook launched a set of tools specifically for Indian users in a bid to boost engagement with voters ahead of the elections. The social media giant has also removed 687 Pages and accounts that engaged in coordinated inauthentic behaviour in India ahead of the elections.