Just because the pandemic may be over does not mean the digital world is free from its after-effects.
Today, a new study has gone on to prove how Twitter’s fact-checking program, Birdwatch, really struggles with issues linked to misinformation. And if we had to name one topic that is regularly tackled on a routine basis, it would definitely be COVID-19.
A new analysis report by The Verge has gone on to speak about how the stakes for misinformation are at an all-time high. This was especially true for the pandemic response.
Since October 6th, Twitter announced that its fact checker would now be at full access to all users in the US. And yes, it’s a huge step that came about in beta in the year 2021. Moreover, this is undoubtedly a step up from the app’s efforts to put an end to misinformation.
But most of the latest trends in this new report are hinting at how the challenge is really to combat such issues. The study found that most of the things that were actually getting fact-checked were seen in the app’s misinformation policies. And that raises a lot of questions in regard to the huge impact that this project is going to provide.
The whole idea of Birdwatch was to make the community in charge of the power at stake instead of a tech firm. But it’s not an easy task as is being described right now. What’s even more interesting is how Twitter’s executives have been busy trying to make so many of us believe the notion that most of the topics that aren’t covered in the policy are the ones being dealt with stringently.
Now, new cases being looked at in detail from the beta phase of the initiative show that so many users were attempting to ward off some serious issues regarding misinformation. Moreover, it has overlapped with the company’s existing policy and that’s not ok.
Moreover, some data released by the firm recently has even gone on to mention that topics of the pandemic were most seriously discussed. And they are even the most commonly discussed as well.
Birdwatch notes are now going to be available for free download through project blogs. And that proved how the app has been busy trying to sort out tweets linked to the pandemic like COVID-19 vaccines and the response of government on the topic.
The Verge opted to take into consideration the dates spanning from January to September and it made use of so many computational tools. Moreover, they summarized the data and ended up gaining insight into various notes from the fact-checker.
In particular, a lot of people were curious about how many changes are related to the pandemic, and what types of changes have come about in recent times. Then another commonly seen fact was linked to so many different types of drugs used for the treatment of the virus.
And experts revealed that while some of the facts were easier to rectify than others, you can’t forget how there are some that are so easy to misinterpret and can misguide users reading them online. This is where fact-checkers are really struggling in today’s time.
For instance, there was a massive debate on how a particular brand’s vaccine was super effective than another. Then the details went on to add things like how firms were struggling with understanding that a particular vaccine could prevent hospitalization over another.
The topic is alarming because it has to do with health and people really do believe what is written online. Hence, that puts a lot of pressure on the app to rectify errors.
Read next: Twitter Updates Its Professional Account Feature With Innovative Analytics Display
Today, a new study has gone on to prove how Twitter’s fact-checking program, Birdwatch, really struggles with issues linked to misinformation. And if we had to name one topic that is regularly tackled on a routine basis, it would definitely be COVID-19.
A new analysis report by The Verge has gone on to speak about how the stakes for misinformation are at an all-time high. This was especially true for the pandemic response.
Since October 6th, Twitter announced that its fact checker would now be at full access to all users in the US. And yes, it’s a huge step that came about in beta in the year 2021. Moreover, this is undoubtedly a step up from the app’s efforts to put an end to misinformation.
But most of the latest trends in this new report are hinting at how the challenge is really to combat such issues. The study found that most of the things that were actually getting fact-checked were seen in the app’s misinformation policies. And that raises a lot of questions in regard to the huge impact that this project is going to provide.
The whole idea of Birdwatch was to make the community in charge of the power at stake instead of a tech firm. But it’s not an easy task as is being described right now. What’s even more interesting is how Twitter’s executives have been busy trying to make so many of us believe the notion that most of the topics that aren’t covered in the policy are the ones being dealt with stringently.
Now, new cases being looked at in detail from the beta phase of the initiative show that so many users were attempting to ward off some serious issues regarding misinformation. Moreover, it has overlapped with the company’s existing policy and that’s not ok.
Moreover, some data released by the firm recently has even gone on to mention that topics of the pandemic were most seriously discussed. And they are even the most commonly discussed as well.
Birdwatch notes are now going to be available for free download through project blogs. And that proved how the app has been busy trying to sort out tweets linked to the pandemic like COVID-19 vaccines and the response of government on the topic.
The Verge opted to take into consideration the dates spanning from January to September and it made use of so many computational tools. Moreover, they summarized the data and ended up gaining insight into various notes from the fact-checker.
In particular, a lot of people were curious about how many changes are related to the pandemic, and what types of changes have come about in recent times. Then another commonly seen fact was linked to so many different types of drugs used for the treatment of the virus.
And experts revealed that while some of the facts were easier to rectify than others, you can’t forget how there are some that are so easy to misinterpret and can misguide users reading them online. This is where fact-checkers are really struggling in today’s time.
For instance, there was a massive debate on how a particular brand’s vaccine was super effective than another. Then the details went on to add things like how firms were struggling with understanding that a particular vaccine could prevent hospitalization over another.
The topic is alarming because it has to do with health and people really do believe what is written online. Hence, that puts a lot of pressure on the app to rectify errors.
Read next: Twitter Updates Its Professional Account Feature With Innovative Analytics Display
