Now more than ever, we are running close to the Internet. The internet is more than a resource of information. It is where we communicate, we research. It is where we get our news from.
Twitter seems to be trying to work on this front. A new feature on Twitter is in the works. They currently call the new feature “Birdwatch”. The feature will let Twitter users warn each other about misleading, harmful tweets.
In the feature, users can add notes to provide context on misleading tweets. And then those tweets will be added to “Birdwatch”. This is where the tweets will stay for moderation. You can find this option in the drop-down menu on tweets. There will be a small binoculars icon on the menu. Clicking on the icon will direct users to a screen where they can view all notes about the tweet.
It is possible that Twitter will roll out this feature for a select few uses in the days to come. Some even speculate that the feature might be selectively launched in the US. Just in time for the forthcoming election in the States, Twitter might put this feature up for trial.
obviously the middle one should’ve been captioned “(2/2)”
gosh i was in such a rush tweeting that out, it’s too late 🥲
here’s the corrected version: pic.twitter.com/NiBDsc7PGT
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) October 3, 2020
From the leaks we have seen so far, the sidebar navigation on the Twitter app will have a new option. Birdwatch Notes will be added to the sidebar next to other features on it.
Verdict
On a quick note, Twitter’s software code contains the feature as “contributions”. This indicates that the feature is likely to be entirely user-sourced.
There is still a lot that we don’t know about this Birdwatch Feature. And it is not even certain if Twitter will actually do a public release of the feature. We may or may not get to see it in its final form. But from what has leaked so far, we do know a little about what we can expect it to do.
