Home Virtual Reality Twitter creates online hub for US election info, to combat misinformation – CNET

Twitter creates online hub for US election info, to combat misinformation – CNET

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Angela Lang/CNET

Twitter is launching an online hub aimed at helping its US users find accurate information about the upcoming elections, the company said on Tuesday. 

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You can find Twitter’s US election hub via the site’s Explore tab. 


Twitter

The new hub comes as social networks are under pressure to do more to combat misinformation. At the same time, Twitter and Facebook have also been accused of suppressing conservative speech, despite repeatedly denying they do so. Creating an online space for election information helps direct social media users to authoritative sources. Facebook has also created a voter information center, as part of an effort to get 4 million people to register to vote. 

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Twitter had already banned political ads and started labeling tweets that contain misinformation about voting; the company has labeled tweets by President Donald Trump. Some tweets from politicians that violate the site’s rules are labeled but left up because of public interest. The company has also started flagging manipulated media.  

Twitter said Tuesday that US users will see this election hub at the top of their Explore tab, which points to a section that displays trending topics and hashtags and highlights tweets about the news, COVID-19, entertainment and other subjects. The hub will include news in both English and Spanish, livestreams of major election events, and local resources and news by state. There will also be a tool that shows candidates for the US House and Senate, as well as for governor in a user’s state and a series of voter education public service announcements. 

“As elections occur around the world, we’ve seen Twitter serve as the centralized hub for real-time political conversation, resources and breaking news. But we also know that at times it can be hard to quickly find the reliable news and accurate information people need in order to meet registration deadlines and participate confidently,” reads a blog post by Twitter’s public policy director, Bridget Coyne, and Sam Toizer, a senior product manager. 

A study conducted in August showed that nine in 10 Twitter users who log in to the site daily say they plan to vote in the US elections but that more than half said they still need more voting information, the company said.

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