Twitter has begun testing its new crowdsourced feature designed to combat the spread of misinformation across the platform.

Named “Birdwatch,” the new test will first be available in the U.S. and involve just a small group of users to begin with. The applicants can then participate in the test by picking various tweets they find and add their own notes to it, just like various fact-checking websites currently existing. Users will also be able to rate each other’s notes to safeguard against intentional manipulation. For now, those notes will only appear on a separate Birdwatch site, but Twitter hopes to integrate those comments once the feature officially rolls out for everyone.

“Birdwatch allows people to identify information in Tweets they believe is misleading and write notes that provide informative context,” a blog post from the company reads. “We believe this approach has the potential to respond quickly when misleading information spreads, adding context that people trust and find valuable.”

Posted by:Staff