(OPINION) Breitbart – Social media giant Twitter has announced a new feature called “Birdwatch” which aims to encourage users to police and flag each other’s tweets if they believe they spread misinformation.

The company claims it wants to “broaden the range of voices” fighting against misinformation, but the feature has the potential to devolve into flagging wars between different factions of users. In a recent blog post, Twitter announced a new feature on its site called “Birdwatch,”

which allows users to add notes with “helpful context” to tweets that they believe are misleading. To participate, users must have certain information on file with Twitter such as their phone number, ostensibly to prove the account belongs to a real person. The company posted an animated video with a brief example of the feature which can be seen below:


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Twitter stated in the blog post that it wants to apply labels and context to Tweets but doesn’t want to “limit efforts to circumstances where something breaks our rules or receives widespread public attention.” The company also said that it wants to “broaden the range of voices” that are tackling misinformation.

The company explained how the feature will work, writing: Birdwatch allows people to identify information in Tweets they believe is misleading and write notes that provide informative context.

We believe this approach has the potential to respond quickly when misleading information spreads, adding context that people trust and find valuable. Eventually, we aim to make notes visible directly on Tweets for the global Twitter audience when there is consensus from a broad and diverse set of contributors. READ MORE