Twitter rolls out ‘crisis misinformation’ policy

Twitter on Thursday announced a new approach to how it handles misinformation during crisis situations aimed more aggressively at targeting false allegations.

The platform will stop amplifying or promoting content about crises as soon as it has evidence that a claim may be misleading.

Tweets that violate the new policy will have an interstitial warning placed on them but not immediately be removed.

“In times of crisis, misleading information can undermine public trust and cause further harm to already vulnerable communities,” Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of safety and integrity, wrote in a blog post. 

“Alongside our existing work to make reliable information more accessible during crisis events, this new approach will help to slow the spread by us of the most visible, misleading content, particularly that which could lead to severe harms.”

The new policy defines crises as situations where there is “widespread threat to life, physical safety, health, or basic subsistence.”

The policy is first being applied to the ongoing war in Ukraine but will be applied to other crises as well moving forward.