X promises to clamp down on misinformation ahead of U.S. presidential election

The Elon Musk-owned X outlined some of the new content policies it would put in place for elections, despite having censored posts in the past

X said it would work to clamp down on misinformation as the U.S. presidential election race heats up [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, claimed it would work to clamp down on misinformation and other related dangers as the U.S. presidential election race heats up.

X said it would temporarily use a ‘Civil Integrity Policy’ to moderate harmful content, as well as its ‘Freedom of Speech, Not Reach’ policy to label accounts which posted content violating the first policy, and also limit their exposure on the platform.

The social media app’s ‘Community Notes’ feature which adds context to potentially misleading posts will also continue to function, promised the company.

“We’re currently expanding our safety and elections teams to focus on combating manipulation, surfacing inauthentic accounts and closely monitoring the platform for emerging threats,” said X in its blog post, adding that it “shouldn’t determine the truthfulness of disputed information” but allow users to share their opinions instead.

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However, at least two brands have stopped spending for advertisements on X after learning that their content appeared alongside an account glorifying Nazism.

In May this year, Twitter was also criticised for censoring content in the run-up to Turkey’s presidential elections, with owner Elon Musk defending the move in order to keep the platform live.

For the upcoming U.S. elections, experts have pointed out the increasing use of artificial intelligence-powered visuals in campaign materials, expressing concerns that new technologies such as generative AI could be used to spread false information on social media platforms and sabotage American electoral processes.

X’s Community Notes have been used this year to identify hyper-realistic images as being generated with AI.

Published - August 30, 2023 02:52 pm IST