Twitter Wants You to Start Reading Articles Before You Share Them

Kind of a big ask, honestly

twitter
Verified users are temporarily blocked from tweeting as a result of a massive hack.
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

In its latest attempt to combat the spread of misinformation online, Twitter has done the unthinkable: asking us to actually read articles before we share them.

The new feature, announced Wednesday, will ask users if they want to open a link first before they share it on Twitter. The platform will be testing the feature with Android users.

“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,” wrote Twitter’s product lead, Kayvon Beykpour in a tweet. “This feature (on Android for now) encourages people to read a linked article prior to Retweeting it.”

The announcement follows other recent moves from Twitter to crack down on harmful content and misinformation on the platform. In March, Twitter expanded its misinformation policies to ban content about the coronavirus pandemic that contradicts official advice from public health authorities. In May, the platform announced new warning labels would be applied to tweets containing potentially misleading information, and by the end of the month the platform made headlines for flagging two tweets about mail-in voting by President Donald Trump with a label encouraging users to “get the facts.”

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