Twitter detailed plans to manage the spread of news and curb misinformation in the 2022 midterm elections with “pre-bunks” of certain narratives and labels for campaign accounts.
Twitter announced in a blog post that it was implementing its civic integrity policy concerning the midterm elections, which will ban users from “manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes.” The policy will punish and diminish the reach of content that Twitter believes could have a detrimental effect on the election. This includes posting misleading information about how to participate, discouraging voters by making false claims about the state of voting sites or law enforcement, making false claims about the outcomes of the election, and creating accounts that falsely claim to be affiliated with a particular political organization.
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The company also said it was implementing multiple product updates to account for what it deems misinformation. This includes redesigned labels for identifying claims as misinformation, implementing “pre-bunks” to counter certain narratives, and creating hubs for information on various elections.
Twitter also said it was implementing a dedicated “Explore” tab for the 2022 elections, which would curate national news related to the state of the election, as well as localized news sources and resources.
The company previously implemented candidate account labels, which will let Twitter identify the proper accounts concerning relevant candidates in a local or state race.
Finally, Twitter stated that it intends to implement additional safeguards to protect the accounts of government officials, candidates, journalists, and those involved in the midterm elections.
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The platform has placed a heavy emphasis on its role in transmitting and communicating the results of elections since it implemented its civic integrity policy in 2018. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said in 2019 that the top priority in 2020 was blocking misinformation. And the company has maintained that stance since. That approach got Twitter into trouble after it banned a New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop from the platform, earning the ire of many conservatives. Dorsey later apologized for that ban.
