Twitter starts showing warnings about election misinformation

Starting today, Twitter will show reminders in the U.S. users’ timelines to warn about election misinformation and false claims.

#Election2020 is unlike any other in US history. With so many more people voting by mail and potentially delayed results, starting today, we’ll show you prompts in your Home timeline and Search to help you stay informed on these critical topics. pic.twitter.com/OAtbnoa70W

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) October 26, 2020

The company has started to push two large prompts to the top of the users’ main timelines; one is warning users that they may encounter misleading information about voting by mail; while the other one attempts to head off the chaos around the online election, saying the results of the U.S. elections could be delayed.

The prompts will direct users to Twitter Moments for accurate and authoritative information on both topics. The warnings will also pop up on related terms and hashtag searches.

Earlier this month, Twitter announced new restrictions on the posts of politicians going for the election, including restricting posts declaring election win before being independently called. The company also announced some features that try to reduce the spread of misinformation, including asking Twitter users to quote tweet or add their own text to retweets instead of instantly sharing other people’s posts.

“…, we will now add additional warnings and restrictions on Tweets with a misleading information label from US political figures (including candidates and campaign accounts), US-based accounts with more than 100,000 followers, or that obtain significant engagement. People must tap through a warning to see these Tweets, and then will only be able to Quote Tweet; likes, Retweets and replies will be turned off, and these Tweets won’t be algorithmically recommended by Twitter.” the company said in a statement.