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Twitter to roll out a new feature called ‘Birdwatch’

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After reporting plenty of updates on Facebook of late, it’s now Twitter’s turn! The social media platform has confirmed it’s working on a new feature, currently dubbed “Birdwatch,” that could let the Twitter community warn one another about tweets that could cause harm.

The tool, which is still not clear when Twitter will roll out as a feature for public use on its platform, is expected to allow users to report ‘misleading’ tweets to Twitter’s own content moderators. The feature is also likely to allow users to tag public notes on why they believe a tweet is or is not misleading.

 

According to multiple media reports, tweets can be added to Birdwatch from the tweets’ usual drop-down menu. A binocular icon will also appear on tweets seen on Twitter timeline. When the icon is clicked, users will be taken to the screen where they can view the tweet’s history of notes.

A user will then be prompted with a questionnaire as to why they believe a tweet to be misleading or not, and then a box will ask for evidence in 580 characters. Users can then click into a tweet to see if any note has been made. The note will be the public document of sorts for a tweet’s authenticity.

It is not known now if all users will be able to provide note on a tweet or only a chosen few will be allowed to do so.

As TechCrunch notes, the existence of such a tool was first discovered by Jane Manchun Wong, who often digs through app code for evidence of unreleased features.

Twitter’s product lead Kayvon Beykpour has said that Twitter will “share more about our plans here soon,” so watch this space!

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