Spread of fake news via social
media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook has been a viral trend over the
past few years. Some social media users tend to spread fake news regarding celebrities, politicians and other influential
figures. Most of the time we often read a story that “that”
celebrity/politician has died or was caught by police. Yet later it is revealed
that it was fake news.
Spread of fake news, abusive and fake
content is indeed a social crime which needs to be rolled out. And now, Twitter
is testing a new way to do so. According to the latest news, the micro-blogging
platform: Twitter is testing a new
feature which will help it to identify the person/user who initiated what is
termed as “bad tweet”.
What will be the aftermath of the
new features?
If this feature is successfully
introduced, the cyber cell and other law enforcement authorities will be at
ease of catching up the one who initiated the bad tweet which had the abusive,
fake, misleading, false and hateful content.
This will help to ensure toxic and stress-free
environment across the social media platform. The bullies would also be tracked
down easily and “wrong” people will be “rightfully” be held accountable.
According to Twitter officials,
Twitter has already launched an “Original Tweeter” tag for a small portion of
Android and IOS users over the market.
Even though Twitter verifies the
accounts of users when they create their Twitter accounts, yet the ease of
changing pictures and users name allows people to spread the fake news. The new
“Original Tweeter Tag” will help stop it all for once.
According to Sara Haider who is
Director and Product Manager at Twitter: “Twitter’s
purpose is to serve the public conversation. As part of this work, we’re
exploring adding more context to discussions by highlighting relevant replies –
like those from the original Tweeter,”.
Why did Twitter felt a need of this feature?
Due to the emergence of fake news and accounts on Twitter, the micro-blogging application is falling short of its expected users and is being seen as a damaging site. Even though Twitter has still not disclosed its fiscal year earning, it could not reach its expected number of users.
Last quarter, Twitter reported 326
million monthly active users, falling short of the expected 330 million.
