Twitter Allegedly Working on 3 Labels to Target Misinformation

To possibly try and keep misinformation to a minimum, Twitter is allegedly introducing three misinformation warning labels, according to app researcher Jane Manchun Wong. 

The three labels would be "Get the latest," "Stay informed," and "Misleading," per Wong's Twitter post on the matter. The tiered warning system would be put in place to stop the spread of misinformation or fake news on the social media platform. 

Depending on the post's content, one of the three labels would pop up beneath it and include a prompt directing the reader to additional information on the topic. 

For instance, in one of Wong's Twitter posts, she wrote "Snorted 60 grams of dihydrogen monoxide and I'm not feeling so well right now." This prompted Twitter's lowest tier label "Get the latest," and also offered additional information about water. 

Next, Wong tweeted "In 12 hours, darkness will ascend in parts of the world. Stay tuned," which Twitter plastered a "Stay informed" label onto, along with more information about timezones. 

Lastly, Wong wrote "We eat. Turtles eat. Therefore we are turtles." Naturally, Twitter placed a "Misleading" label with a red warning sign along with information about logical fallacies. 

Twitter is working on three levels of misinformation warning labels:

“Get the latest”, “Stay Informed” and “Misleading” pic.twitter.com/0RdmMsRAEk

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) May 31, 2021

There's no official information as to whether or not this labeling system will come into place, and if so, when. But the hope is to curb the spread of fallacies and fake news as much as possible. 

Twitter has been busy lately, as just last week, Wong also shared the news that Twitter was setting up its paid subscription service with extra options and modes for its users. Again, no information as to when or if the service will see the light of day was disclosed by Twitter. 

The social media platform has tried in the past to curb misinformation on its site, like last year when it tried to remove misleading tweets about COVID-19 that could "potentially cause harm."

However, concerns over how well the system will pick up these posts are circulating, as well as the question over censorship. And if someone regularly posts misleading comments on Twitter, gathering these new labels in their wake, what would happen to them, would they be kicked off the platform after a certain amount of time?

Twitter has yet to answer these questions, but if Wong's predictions are anything to go by, we may well be seeing these three labels on our little blue social media plaftorm.