Twitter is expanding the test for its Birdwatch feature in a bid to combat misinformation.

Birdwatch is the platform’s new crowdsourced initiative meant to help combat misleading information on the platform. Piloted in the United States in January, the feature allows users to identify information in Tweets as misleading and write notes to provide more context. Initially, the notes were kept separate on the Birdwatch website and not on Twitter itself.

Pilot participants of the feature will now begin to see tweets with Birdwatch notes on the Twitter app and web platform.

“Now, when you’re browsing Twitter on Android, iOS, or Twitter.com, you may see Tweets with Birdwatch notes. Notes will appear in a card on the Tweet. Right now, this feature is only visible to pilot participants,” read a tweet from the official Birdwatch account.

“Birdwatch wants to help people stay informed by adding helpful context to Tweets. This feature will allow those who are currently participating in Birdwatch to more easily identify and rate the most helpful notes,” it said.

Twitter further explained how the feature works. For tweets with a Birdwatch note that is “Currently rated helpful” users will be able to see it right there on the Tweet, and will be able to rate it to help elevate the most helpful notes. If the tweet has multiple notes that are “Currently rated helpful”, the card will rotate between these notes at periodic intervals, and users can tap to rate those notes on the Birdwatch site, it explained.

If a Tweet has notes but none of them fall under “Currently rated helpful”, users will see the number of notes written. They can then tap on the notes and rate them on the Birdwatch site.

“Finally, if all notes on a Tweet are “Currently not rated helpful,” there won’t be a card on the Tweet. You’ll still be able to get to Birdwatch notes on that Tweet by clicking on the Birdwatch icon in the Tweet details page,” it further explained.

Related Topics