Twitter Ramps Up Labeling of ‘Misinformation’

Social media giant Twitter is reportedly testing new ways to make its “misinformation” labels even more obvious and direct on the platform.

Reuters reports that Twitter is starting to rethink how its misinformation labels look and work on the platform. Twiter applies labels and explainers to tweets on the platform that it considers misinformation or misleading. In a recent interview, Twitter Head of Site Integrity Yoel Roth stated that the company is exploring changes to the small blue notices attached to tweets it decides are false or misleading.

The aim, according to Roth, is to make the labels more “overt” and more “direct” in giving users information. Roth did not say whether any new version of the labels would be launched ahead of the November presidential election.

Roth stated that some of the efforts to improve the labels include testing a more visible reddish-magenta color and working out determining whether or not to flag users who regularly post false information.

Roth stated: “We’ve definitely heard the feedback that it would be useful to see if an account is a repeat offender or has been repeatedly labeled, and we’re thinking about the options there.” Twitter began labeling misinformation in early 2020 and has since expanded its labels to include coronavirus information and misleading tweets about elections and civic processes.

Roth stated that Twitter began rethinking its labels following research that showed that labels correcting information can actually strengthen the reader’s beliefs in misinformation, something referred to as the “backfire effect.” Roth also worried that there was a risk that the label “becomes a badge of honor” that users actively pursue.

Kate Starbird, an associate professor at the University of Washington, has been analyzing Twitter’s labeling responses and stated: “Mostly things take off so fast that if you wait 20 or 30 minutes… most of the spread for someone with a big audience has already happened.”

Roth is notable for more than being a Twitter executive responsible for “site integrity.” As reported by Breitbart News in May, Roth tends to tweet the exact type of misinformation that the company claims to fight. For example, he tweeted in 2017, “Yes, that person in the pink hat is clearly a bigger threat to your brand of feminism than ACTUAL NAZIS IN THE WHITE HOUSE.”

Yes, that person in the pink hat is clearly a bigger threat to your brand of feminism than ACTUAL NAZIS IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

— Yoel Roth (@yoyoel) January 22, 2017

Twitter has previously labeled tweets posted by President Trump as “manipulated media” or “misinformation.” Breitbart News has reported extensively on these situations, read more here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com