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Lok Sabha elections 2019: Twitter users can now report misleading tweets on polls
The rules will also include misleading information about requirements for voting, including identification requirements, misleading statements or information about the official announced date or time of an election.
Microblogging site Twitter on Wednesday launched a new tool to report tweets that seek to manipulate voters or interfere with the ongoing elections in India.
Simply put, it is a new layer Twitter has added to its company’s community standards that gives more power to users of the service.Three out of the seven phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in India concluded on Tuesday. The elections will be completed on May 19 and the counting of votes will take place on May 23.
“Voting is a fundamental human right and the public conversation occurring on Twitter is never more important than during elections. Any attempts to undermine the process of registering to vote or engaging in the electoral process are contrary to our company’s core values,” San Francisco-based Twitter said in a blog post shared by its safety team.
“Today, we are further expanding our enforcement capabilities...by creating a dedicated reporting feature within the product to allow users to more easily report this content to us. We will start with 2019 Lok Sabha elections in India and the EU (European Union) elections and then roll out to other elections globally throughout the rest of the year,” it added.
This tool will be operational in India on Thursday and in member-states of the EU on April 29. European Parliament elections will be held between 23 May and 26 May.
Users in India can report tweets that include misleading information about how to vote or how to register to vote, about requirements for voting, including identification requirements and misleading statements about the official, announced dates or time of an election.
Between January and June of 2018, Twitter suspended 7.5 million accounts engaged in spam behaviour. Last month, Facebook, Twitter and Google agreed to create a high-priority dedicated reporting mechanism for the Election Commission and appoint dedicated teams over the duration of the general election for taking action on any reported violations. All objectionable content flagged by the EC is to be removed or disabled immediately, within an outer limit of three hours.In February, top executives of Twitter met with a parliamentary panel to discuss fake news and alleged political bias on the platform.
Compared to the Indian user base of Facebook (300 million) and its messaging app WhatsApp (over 230 million), Twitter’s user base in India is smaller at around 35 million.
In February, Twitter also set up an “internal cross functional elections group” in its efforts to protect the integrity of elections in the country. Twitter also expanded its political ads policy and transparency approach to include India, Australia and all EU member-states.
