Twitter adds new misinformation warning for US users ahead of 2020 election

The notices relate to the topics of mail-in voting and possible delayed election results

Twitter has introduced a number of measures to curb the spread of misinformation ahead of the 2020 US election. Courtesy Twitter 

Twitter has started pinning a warning about misinformation at the top of all of its US users' timelines, ahead of the US presidential election on November 3.

The notices relate to the topics of mail-in voting and the possibility that the 2020 election results could be delayed.

"You might encounter misleading information about voting by mail," reads one prompt, with another that says, "Election results might be delayed".

The links direct users to "a Twitter Moments [page] that provides more context and compiles the latest credible information on the topic from election experts, journalists and other authoritative news sources", Twitter said in press release.

"#Election2020 is unlike any other in US history. With so many more people voting by mail and potentially delayed results, starting today, we’ll show you prompts in your Home timeline and Search to help you stay informed on these critical topics," the social media platform said, announcing the new feature.

"Election experts confirm that voting by mail is safe and secure, even with an increase in mail-in ballots," the full voting by mail notice reads. "Even so, you might encounter unconfirmed claims that voting by mail leads to election fraud, ahead of the 2020 US elections."

The delayed results message says: "With the increase in voting by mail, there might be a delay in the announcement of election results. This means you could encounter unconfirmed claims that a candidate has won their race."

The prompts will be available in 42 languages and will be visible to all Twitter users with an account based in the US.

Steps Twitter has taken to curb spread of misinformation 

This is not the first feature Twitter has introduced ahead of the US election. On October 9, the social media site announced "additional, significant product and enforcement updates that will increase context and encourage more thoughtful consideration before tweets are amplified".

"We do not allow anyone to use Twitter to manipulate or interfere in elections or other civic processes," the company said in a statement. "We will label tweets that falsely claim a win for any candidate and will remove tweets that encourage violence or call for people to interfere with election results or the smooth operation of polling places."

Twitter also rolled out new prompts and more warnings on misleading posts in early October.

"We currently may label tweets that violate our policies against misleading information about civic integrity, Covid-19, and synthetic and manipulated media. Starting next week, when people attempt to retweet one of these tweets with a misleading information label, they will see a prompt pointing them to credible information about the topic before they are able to amplify it," the statement continued.

"Tweets with labels are already de-amplified through our own recommendation systems and these new prompts will give individuals more context on labeled tweets so they can make more informed decisions on whether or not they want to amplify them to their followers."

Since October 20, Twitter has encouraged users to "quote tweet" rather than retweet, so that they add commentary to a post.

Twitter will remind users to read articles they retweet first, with a pop-up window that says “headlines don’t tell the full story”.

Twitter explained: "Though this adds some extra friction for those who simply want to retweet, we hope it will encourage everyone to not only consider why they are amplifying a tweet, but also increase the likelihood that people add their own thoughts, reactions and perspectives to the conversation."