Twitter has announced they are beginning the implementation of automated tools that are part of a larger plan targeting COVID misinformation.
On Tuesday afternoon, the social media giant tweeted from the @TwitterSafety account that they will be deploying the tools over the next few days.
The move comes as the latest step in Twitter’s pledge to combat false information on their platform, following the application of “labels” by team members on content that violates the company’s policy.
https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1379515615954620418
“Our goal is to eventually use both automated and human review to address content that violates our COVID-19 vaccine misinformation rules,” Twitter stated on March 1.
“Machine-learning and automated language processing takes time to be effective. As such, we will begin with English-language content first and use this same process as we work to expand to other languages and cultural contexts over time.”
Labels will appear in a user’s preferred language and may link to curated content, public health information from official sources, or Twitter Rules.
The social media platform will also be using a “strike system” for repeated violations of its COVID-19 policy. A first strike leads to no account-level action, but for two or three strikes, an account is locked for 12 hours.
A fourth strike then leads to a 7-day lock, and five or more strikes lead to permanent suspension.
Users who believe their accounts were locked or suspended in error can still submit appeals to Twitter’s support team.
“Our goal with these product interventions is to provide people with additional context and authoritative information about COVID-19,” Twitter stated.
