Twitter is working to build new tools and features to stop bots or automated accounts from spreading misinformation, even as its primary strategy is to rely on other users to call out fake news.
“It is important to us that people use Twitter to stay informed and get information that is accurate and helpful,” Keith Coleman, global vice-president- product, Twitter, told The Hindu . “One thing that is great about the platform is that it is open. Anyone can respond to anyone else. That often does a good job in combating the situation. We think that is much better than having any one institution try and be the source of truth.”
The company’s strategy is to encourage such conversations to call out fake news or misinformation. “But one thing we want to do to help is [to see] that bots or automation are not disrupting what is happening or helping to spread misinformation. There is a bunch of work we are doing around that,” he said.
Mr. Coleman, who joined Twitter about six months ago, is on a visit to India.
Globally, there is concern over social media platforms being used to spread misleading or false stories.
Twitter is also investing to “crack down on abuse and get it off the platform.”
“We have rolled out several dozen product changes in the last six months. We also rolled out machine learning algorithms to protect and stop it before it happens,” Mr. Coleman said.
Asked about blocking of accounts, he said, “If we see someone repeatedly violating policies, we will block them. We might not always do it perfectly, so sometimes it may not be perfectly clear why one account has been blocked and not the other. It is something we are really working on right now.”
Mr. Coleman said India was not only one of Twitter’s largest markets, but also one of the fastest growing ones. “Though it is already one of our top five markets, the penetration for Twitter Lite is relatively low. But we see great usage — people following cricket, politics and entertainment,” he said, pointing out that the number of users was very low. “That seems to us a huge opportunity.” The company has a data-saving Twitter Lite option in India.
Tap to stay on top
The focus was to make the platform “faster and cheaper [for data].” Also, users came to Twitter to know more about particular topics. “Right now, it is hard to do that. We want to make it simpler. So it may be a cricket team, [or] political topics like tax changes, you just go and tap and stay on top of whatever you are looking for,” he said.
