Will Twitter Ever Police Fake News?
Fake news pops up all the time on your feed/wall, can appear in ad spots and generally anywhere people will frequent. Not unlike clickbait, it’s annoying and is only there to get clicks so the companies endorsing the fake articles get revenue from the adverts on the same page. The difference is that clickbait commonly takes an event that has really happened and will make an eye-catching header, whereas fake news doesn’t even have to have truth in any part of the article. False content like this has been dubbed ‘disinformation’- often defined as false content spread with the specific intent to deceive, mislead or manipulate.[1] (That’s different from misinformation, which is equally warped, but is spread unintentionally.)
Why is it here?
As well as a catchy title, fake news can sometimes be incredibly scary. Often in the lead up to important political elections or campaigns, fake news will surge about opposing parties or people in an attempt to fearmonger the populace. China has a large lockdown on what is seen by their public and in August of 2019, Twitter and Facebook revealed a Chinese state-backed information operation launched globally to de-legitimize the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. Twitter said it had taken down 936 accounts that were “deliberately and specifically attempting to sow political discord in Hong Kong.”[1] For many, this wasn’t enough. Allowing content onto the site in the first place was seen as a mistake on Twitter’s part.
What is being done?
Under pressure from lawmakers and regulators, Facebook and Google have started requiring political ads in the U.S. and Europe to disclose who is behind them.[1] Twitter has a different method. In the Terms of Service is a very clear section that states ‘We do not endorse, support, represent or guarantee the completeness, truthfulness, accuracy, or reliability of any Content or communications posted via [Twitter] or endorse any opinions expressed via the Services.’[3] Essentially telling people offended by fake news that the company has no part in endorsing any opinion and it’s down to the consumer to report fearmongering and/or clickbait.
A Twitter spokesperson detailed the company’s efforts to tackle platform manipulation and said it discloses data relating to issues such as legal requests and rules enforcement in bi-annual ‘transparency reports’.[2] The fact of the matter is that Twitter does ban particularly dangerous accounts, though banning some and not others is in itself, a political leaning. Fake news about a celebrity’s nip-slip seems rather insignificant now, doesn’t it? Considering these stupid fake news sites employ real people, make revenue, create internet traffic, and are essentially harmless, Social media sites usually deal with ‘the bigger fish’. Since anyone –ANYONE, can create a social media account, it’s unsurprising when thinking about it, that Fake News slips under the radar. An argument can be made that Twitter doesn’t need to do anything about these sites since it’s not down to the company to monitor the idiocy of individuals falling for it.
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