Twitter reverts to old retweet function after US election
Twitter Inc is reversing changes made to its retweet function intended to curb the spread of misinformation during the US presidential election, the company said.
The microblogging site had in October made it difficult for users to retweet a tweet with misinformation and promoted the use of quote tweets, which included commentary from the user.
It had also imposed curbs including labeling and removal of tweets calling for people to interfere with the election process or implementation of results.
Twitter said it will no longer prompt quote tweets from the retweet icon. “Retweet functionality will be returning to the way it was before,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Quote tweets instead of retweets was intended to encourage thoughtful amplification, but that has not happened in practice, the company said.
“The use of Quote Tweets increased, but 45% of them included single-word affirmations and 70% had less than 25 characters,” it said.
“The increase in Quote Tweets was also offset by an overall 20% decrease in sharing through both Retweets and Quote Tweets.”
Meanwhile, Facebook has in the past few days rolled back their algorithm that lifted news from authoritative outlets over hyperpartisan sources after November’s election, according to a report in the New York Times.
Facebook did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
The implementation of the algorithm had resulted in a reduction in traffic for partisan sites like Breitbart and Occupy Democrats and an increase for mainstream news publishers, the report said.
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
Pope denies resignation rumours, hopes to visit Kyiv, Moscow
Pope Francis has dismissed rumours he plans to resign anytime soon, and says that he hopes to visit Moscow and Kyiv after travelling to Canada later this month. Francis also told Reuters in an interview published Monday that the idea “never entered my mind” to announce a planned retirement at the end of the summer, though he repeated he might step down some day as Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI did in 2013.
-
Al Jazeera reporter likely killed by unintentional gunfire from Israeli side: US
Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was likely killed by unintentional gunfire from Israeli positions, but independent investigators could not reach a definitive conclusion about the origin of the bullet that struck her, the U.S. State Department said on Monday. The U.S. Security Coordinator, after summarizing investigations by both the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian Authority, concluded that gunfire from Israeli positions was likely responsible for Abu Akleh's death, the State Department said.
-
Imran Khan's party apologised to US over foreign conspiracy claim: Pak minister
Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's allegations of a foreign conspiracy to overthrow his government is not new. The cricketer-turned-politician had even named a US diplomat named Donald Lu for being allegedly involved in a conspiracy to remove him from the post of prime minister. Now, a senior minister in the incumbent Shehbaz Sharif government has claimed that Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has apologised to Lu, the US assistant secretary for south and central Asian affairs.
-
Drones, helicopters search for missing after Italian glacier collapse
Helicopter crews and drones searched on Monday for around 15 people missing in the Italian Alps after part of a mountain glacier collapsed, killing at least six people and injuring eight. Sunday's avalanche took place on the Marmolada, which at more than 3,300 metres is the highest peak in the Dolomites, a range in the eastern Italian Alps straddling the regions of Trento and Veneto.
-
Man dies in jet-propelled truck crash at US air show
Video taken at the Battle Creek Executive Airport by apparent air show attendees and posted on social media showed the truck losing control, bursting into flames and crashing, flipping over multiple times as horrified spectators looked on.
