Twitter will warn you if the tweet you're about to share has been flagged for misinformation

Twitter has added a new warning prompt to its arsenal to slow down the spread of misinformation. If you are about to share a tweet that’s been flagged under Twitter’s rules of misinformation, you are going to be warned about it.

Twitter will tell you that the tweet you are about to share is disputed and give you an option to find out more.

Also Read: Twitter imposes restrictions ahead of US election

Twitter explained this new feature with a post that states - “Our work to limit the spread of misleading information goes beyond elections. Starting today, before you Retweet or Quote Tweet any labeled Tweet that breaks our misleading information rules, you’ll see a prompt.”

“It’ll provide more context on why the Tweet breaks out rules,” Twitter added.

The main idea obviously is to make people aware that they are about to share wrong or false information and slow down the spread of the same content. Twitter recently added another feature that prompts people when they are about to retweet a post with an attached article that they have not opened (which means, they have not read it).

Also Read: Twitter wants you to read before you retweet any article

The platform has also removed the straight retweet option entirely for users in the US as the country moves towards their presidential elections.

You can still retweet by not writing anything on your part in the Quote Tweet composer window, but the idea behind this prompt and the other one is to at least think about the content you are about to share instead of blindly amplifying it. This also, as Twitter believes, should provide more nuance for debate and conversation.

And the platform believes that these prompts are helping. Twitter claims that after a prompt to open theattached articles in tweets, the ‘read before retweeting’ message, users are opening articles 40% more.

The new update about ‘disputed’ tweets will apply to all tweets that have been tagged for containing misleading information. Twitter believes that at least that little bit of a warning is going to make people reconsider redistributing such messages.