Twitter is going to fight fake news together with news agencies AP and Reuters

Twitter will partner with The Associated Press and Reuters to proactively provide context and background to tweets in an effort to curb the spread of misinformation and fake news. Initially, it only concerns English-language tweets.

In a blog post writes Twitter about the collaboration with AP and Reuters that it hopes to detect disinformation at an early stage. This must be done before the information goes viral. Twitter itself says it does not have the expertise to pass judgment on whether facts are correct or not. The news agencies will help with that, including in the Trending section of Twitter. Initially, the cooperation only concerns English-language messages.

AP and Reuters will, among other things, proactively provide context for topics that circulate quickly on Twitter, and where the risk of disinformation is high. With input from the news agencies, messages are given an accompanying text box with links to reliable information on a subject. “Instead of waiting for something to go viral, Twitter will provide context as the conversation develops or before it becomes a public discussion,” the network writes.

Twitter will also process the feedback from Reuters and AP bird watch, Twitter’s community-driven disinformation tool. With AP and Reuters content, users of the Birdwatch community gain access to trusted news sources that they can tick for context on a topic.