Twitter to fight misinformation with new fact-checking program Birdwatch

Twitter has launched a fact-checking program called Birdwatch to fight misinformation on its platform. The company announced on Monday that this new program will allow users to fact-check tweets

The program will commence its pilot phase in the United States with about 1,000 users. Users, who will be part of the pilot, will write notes on individual tweets to provide more context about the tweet to address misinformation on twitter.

These notes would not be publicly visible on Twitter itself and could only be viewed publicly on the Birdwatch website. Pilot users will also be allowed to rate notes submitted by other participants in the program.

According to The Verge, Twitter first confirmed that it was working on Birdwatch last year. However, it was expected that the program could not be released before the presidential elections in the United States.

As the social media platform grapples with the spread of misinformation and propaganda on its platform, it hopes to play a key role in ensuring that its users are protected from the dangers of fake news online. Twitter has also taken pertinent steps to fight misinformation both during and after the US presidential campaigns by labeling tweets which provided wrong or misleading information.

Keith Coleman, Twitter VP of product also explained in a blog post that they “believe this approach has the potential to respond quickly when misleading information spreads, adding context that people trust and find valuable.” He also adds that "eventually we aim to make notes visible directly on Tweets for the global Twitter audience, when there is consensus from a broad and diverse set of contributors.”