Twitter has revealed its latest effort to curb misinformation and encourage meaningful discussions on the platform.
Users will now be prompted to read an article before they retweet it.
You'd think a company would be happy seeing loads of engagement from posts, however they want to make sure people are looking beyond the headline and the caption.
Advert
Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour commented about the new feature, saying: "It's easy for links [and] 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."
Twitter first announced plans to roll out the prompt back in June, saying they were planning to test the feature on Android phones to begin with.
Advert
The company said at the time: "Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you Tweet it. 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."
The company noticed a 40 per cent increase in the number of people who read an article if they were prompted.
Following positive results, Twitter revealed that the feature would be expanded to include iOS users.
"We're seeing promising results from this prompt, so we're expanding the test to iOS. Sharing an article with a Retweet or Quote Tweet? If you haven't already read the article, we may ask if you'd like to open it first," Twitter said in a statement.
Advert
It's the latest in several implementations by Twitter to encourage users to post factually correct information.
The US election in particular saw many high profile users' tweets being flagged as spreading misinformation.
Most notably, Twitter flagged several tweets made by Donald Trump after he began falsely claiming that the election had been rigged against him.
Advert
After Trump declared that the Democrats were 'trying to STEAL the election', within 15 minutes of his tweet - at 9:49 p.m. Pacific Standard Time - his tweet had been flagged with a disclaimer, as well as a link to Twitter's company policy on flagging and slowing the spread of misinformation.
Several of POTUS' posts have been earmarked by Twitter in the days since November 3.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics:Β News, Twitter, Technology