On Wednesday, Twitter announced that it will begin testing a new feature that will prompt users to think before they tweet articles they haven’t read.
This test is currently limited to Android users in English. If a user decides to retweet an article before reading it, Twitter may prompt them to open it before they do so. Twitter did not say when it plans to bring the feature to additional operating systems.
“Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you Tweet it,” Twitter said. “To help promote informed discussion, we’re testing a new prompt on Android — when you Retweet an article that you haven’t opened on Twitter, we may ask if you’d like to open it first.”
It’s easy for links/articles to go viral on Twitter. This can be powerful but sometimes dangerous, especially if people haven’t read the content they’re spreading. This feature (on Android for now) encourages people to read a linked article prior to Retweeting it. https://t.co/qdYZ8w9e27
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) June 10, 2020
This test is just the latest from Twitter in an effort to curb misinformation and encourage meaningful discussions on the platform. Last month, Twitter launched a test that allows users to limit who can reply to their tweets on Android, iOS, and the company’s web app. As of right now, some users are able to restrict replies to everyone, people they follow, or people they mention. In recent months, Twitter has rolled out additional features like the ability to hide specific replies to tweets. It is also testing a cleaner interface for threaded conversations on the platform.
