Twitter is recruiting its users to help combat misinformation about its service, flagging and noticing misleading and false tweets.
The pilot program released Monday, called Birdwatch, allows a pre-selected group of users – for now, only in the United States – who sign up via Twitter. Those wishing to sign up must have a US-based phone operator, verified email and phone number and no recent violations of Twitter rules.
Twitter said it wants experts and non-experts to write notes about Birdwatch. He cited Wikipedia as a site that thrives on contributions from non-experts.
“In concept tests, we saw non-experts write concise, useful and easy-to-understand notes, often citing valuable sources from experts,” wrote the company on a blog.
Twitter, along with other social media companies, has been fighting the best way to combat misinformation about its service. Despite strict rules and law enforcement, falsehoods about the U.S. presidential election and the coronavirus continue to spread.
But in order for the effort to work, Twitter will have to predict misuse and evildoers trying to manipulate the system to their advantage.
To help eliminate useless or troll-created notes, for example, Twitter plans to attach a “utility score” to each one and will label useful ones as “currently rated useful.”
The company said that Birdwatch will not replace other labels and fact checks that Twitter currently uses – mainly for elections and incorrect information related to COVID-19 and misleading posts.
The program will start with 1,000 users and eventually expand beyond the US
Twitter, based in San Francisco, said it is trying to ensure that Birdwatch has a diverse range of perspectives and participants – an ongoing problem on Wikipedia, where many of the contributors and editors are white men.
“If we have more candidates than pilot vacancies, we will randomly admit accounts, prioritizing accounts that tend to follow and engage with audiences and content different from existing participants,” wrote Twitter.