Twitter Keeps Testing Its Fact-Checking Project Named Birdwatch

Fake news on social media can be too numerous to monitor and fact-check with a limited team of moderators who can also be biased. Twitter responds to this challenge of today with a crowdsourcing fact-checking project aptly named Birdwatch. Under this project, users can mark news as fake and provide proof.

 For Birdwatchers, Twitter adds a new possibility. Now users can add context to tweets they view as misleading. In this context, they can mark news as fake and provide sources. Birdwatch enables users to specify what’s wrong with this information: it may be unchecked, obsolete, contain altered media materials, or be just a joke that someone somehow took too seriously. A note can be added to explain in more detail.

 This is meant for the readers of the tweet to view the information more critically. As the research shows, the chance that the reader blindly believes the tweet is 20-40% less with the context provided. The testing phase of the feature provided positive results. Most users (including politicians who might be interested in spreading misinformation or unchecked facts) still find the feature helpful. 

 Inspired by this, Twitter starts a limited rollout of this feature. Starting March 3, a small group of users in the USA will be able to see Birdwatch notes and react to them. As the source by the contributor can be unreliable as well, the notes can be rated too. This can go on ad infinitum, but one iteration is enough to provide readers with enough data for conclusions. Plus, there are qualifiers that may intervene.

 What do you think of this initiative? Is it a method to really prevent fake news from spreading, or just another battlefield for virtual wars? Are you ready to participate with notes or rate these notes? Share your opinion in the comments if you please!