Twitter launched its fact-checking program ‘Birdwatch’ last
year, which allows participants to highlight and correct misleading information
across the platform. Twitter is now expanding Birdwatch by selecting larger
groups of fact-checkers to the test on a more frequent basis.
This addition will also lead to an increasing number of
contextual notes that contributors can add regarding misleading content, and
collectively identify as Helpful. “This doesn’t mean you’ll start seeing notes
on every Tweet, simply that a larger number of you will start seeing notes that
have been rated Helpful,” clarifies Twitter.
Twitter also adds that it would be releasing an updated
Birdwatch onboarding process that will better incentivize contributors, hence
enabling them to write and rate notes in a thoughtful way.
Each new Birdwatch contributor will begin with an Impact
Rating score at zero, which they can increase in two ways: rating other contributors’
notes and identifying Helpful and Unhelpful notes in a reliable manner. Moreover,
contributors will be able to start writing notes once their score has risen to
5, and they can continue to increase it further.
The expansion of the program seems to be a worthy
consideration, however, Twitter could face some potential challenges with its
Birdwatch system. One of problems that the company has reportedly already encountered
is having ended up accepting a QAnon supporter as a contributor. Even though the
report confirms that Twitter eventually removed the individual, the incident
indicates the possibility of infiltration and exploitation of the system. The expansion
of the program, could therefore, increase the chances of the occurrence of such
matters, especially during the pre-election period.
