Twitter is calling on its users to help combat misinformation about its service by noticing and noticing misleading and false tweets.
The pilot program launched on Monday, called Birdwatch, allows a pre-selected group of users – for the time being only in the US – to log in via Twitter. Those who want to sign up must have a U.S. service provider, verified email address and phone number and no recent violations on Twitter.
Twitter said it wants both experts and non-experts to write Birdwatch notes. It mentioned Wikipedia as a site that thrives on non-expert contributions.
“In testing concepts, we have seen non-experts write concise, useful and easy-to-understand notes, citing valuable expert sources,” the company wrote in a blog post..
Twitter, along with other social media companies, has struggled with the best way to combat misinformation about its service. Despite stricter rules and enforcement, lies about the US presidential election and the coronavirus continue to spread.
But if the attempt is to work, Twitter will have to predict that abuse and bad actors are trying to play the system to their advantage.
For example, to help eradicate clumsy or troll-written notes, Twitter plans to attach a “helpfulness point” to everyone and will be helpful at this point.
The company said Birdwatch would not replace other labels and fact-checks currently used by Twitter – mainly for election and COVID-19 related misinformation and misleading posts.
The program will start with 1,000 users and eventually expand beyond the US
San Francisco-based Twitter said it was trying to ensure that Birdwatch had a variety of perspectives and participants – an ongoing problem on Wikipedia, where many of the contributors and editors are white men.
“If we have more applicants than pilot slots, we will randomly allow accounts and prioritize accounts that tend to follow and engage with other audiences and content than those of existing entrants,” Twitter wrote.