Twitter announced this week that it is making a move on deceptive photos and videos being posted to the platform. In an official statement from the company, writers Yoel Roth and Ashita Achuthan say that users will no longer be able to share manipulated media that is likely to hurt other users. And from now on, doctored posts will be accompanied by a label indicating the validity of the content.
“You may not deceptively share synthetic or manipulated media that are likely to cause harm. In addition, we may label Tweets containing synthetic and manipulated media to help people understand the media’s authenticity and to provide additional context.”
Twitter even took to the platform to tweet about the new update in an official post from the company’s Twitter Safety account:
We know that some Tweets include manipulated photos or videos that can cause people harm. Today we’re introducing a new rule and a label that will address this and give people more context around these Tweets pic.twitter.com/P1ThCsirZ4
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) February 4, 2020
In order to determine whether a post could potentially cause harm, Twitter says it will compare the content against these criteria:
- Are the media synthetic or manipulated?
- Are the media shared in a deceptive manner?
- Is the content likely to impact public safety or cause serious harm?
“Our goal in making these assessments is to understand whether someone on Twitter who is just scrolling through their timeline has enough information to understand whether the media being shared in a tweet is or isn’t what it claims to be,” said Roth.
Tweets that are deemed deceptive will be labelled “manipulated media” starting from Thursday, 5 March 2020. Users will be able to then tap on the label which will then lead them to reputable sources containing undoctored information.
Twitter says that “this will be a challenge and we will make errors along the way — we appreciate the patience. However, we’re committed to doing this right. Updating our rules in public and with democratic participation will continue to be core to our approach”.
Edited by Jenna Cook
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