2020 has been a year when misinformation has come into sharper focus, especially when it comes to the use of social media in the lead up to and during the US Presidential elections.

One platform which has taken a particularly strong stance on misinformation is Twitter, having labelled several of former US president Donald Trump’s tweets as misleading.

Now Twitter looks to be adding more tools in the fight against misinformation, according to some digging by Jane Manchun Wong, who is a reliable source on such matters.

In the tweet pasted below, she shows a preview of a new notification that Twitter has worked on, but is yet to activate, which pops up before a user decides to like a tweet that contains disputed or false information.

Twitter is working on misinformation warning on Likes, just like the ones for Quote Tweets / Retweets pic.twitter.com/BLlmaw5RZK

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) November 9, 2020

It does not stop you from liking a tweet but, as TechCrunch notes, it slows you down, adding a layer to the process that hopefully gives users time to reflect on their decision before liking.

Whether it will work as intended remains to be seen, especially as people on social media of late have held firm in the previously held beliefs.

It also remains to be seen when, and indeed if, Twitter plans to rollout this new tool, with a number of new guidelines having already been issued prior to the elections kicking off earlier this month.

Twitter did, however, acknowledge that the feature Wong uncovered has been fully developed, but declined to give a time frame as to when it would be rolled out proper.

“Our goal is to give people the context and tools necessary to find credible information on our service — no matter the topic or where they are seeing the Tweet,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch.

“This is an iterative process, and we’re continuing to explore features and policies to help people on Twitter make their own informed decisions,” they concluded.

[Image – Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash]