By Barbara Ortutay, Technology Writer
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) --Twitter is imposing tough new rules that restrict candidates from declaring premature victory and tighten its measures against spreading misinformation, calling for political violence and spreading thoughtless commentary in the days leading up to and following the Nov. 3 U.S. election.
The social platform will remove tweets that encourage violence or call for people to interfere with election results. Tweets that falsely claim a candidate has won will be labeled to direct users to the official U.S. election results page on Twitter.
Twitter said Friday it is will also make it more difficult to retweet posts it has labeled to highlight the presence of misleading information — whether about COVID, civic integrity or for including manipulated photos or videos. Beginning next week, people who want to retweet such posts will see a prompt pointing them to credible information about the topic before they are able to retweet it. The step is designed to make people pause and think, potentially slowing the thoughtless retweets that are often a problem on the platform.
Beginning on Oct. 20, and at least through Election Week in the U.S., Twitter says it will also encourage people to add their own commentary to retweets. People who try to retweet someone else's post will first be directed to the "quote tweet" feature, which lets them add their own comment.
Twitter said in a blog post it hopes this "will encourage everyone to not only consider why they are amplifying a Tweet, but also increase the likelihood that people add their own thoughts, reactions and perspectives to the conversation."
The San Francisco company is also placing tighter limits on politicians with more than 100,000 followers, a category that includes President Donald Trump with 87 million and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, with 10 million. If these users tweet misleading information, the tweets will get a label saying the information is disputed. Anyone who wants to see the tweets will have to tap through the warning; even then, they won't be able to like, retweet or comment on it.
The changes come a day after Facebook announced similar new restrictions ahead of the election, which is less than three weeks away. Early voting has already started in some states. Unlike Facebook, which imposed new restriction on political ads on Thursday — banning them on Nov. 3 after the polls close for at least a week — Twitter hasn't allowed any political advertisements for some time.
Social media companies appear to be learning how to rapidly respond to existing and anticipated threats to the election process. Trump's campaign and its GOP allies have been going to new lengths to contest election procedures and to question the integrity of mail-in ballots. Trump has also refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses, although both parties have rejected his comments and vowed a peaceful transition.
Canada orders TikTok’s Canadian business to be dissolved but won’t block app
Canada announced Wednesday it won't block access to the popular video-sharing app TikTok but is ordering the dissolution of its Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind it.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said it is meant to address risks related to ByteDance Ltd.'s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
"The government is not blocking Canadians' access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content. The decision to use a social media application or platform is a personal choice," Champagne said.
Champagne said it is important for Canadians to adopt good cybersecurity practices, including protecting their personal information.
He said the dissolution order was made in accordance with the Investment Canada Act, which allows for the review of foreign investments that may harm Canada's national security. He said the decision was based on information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada's security and intelligence community and other government partners.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of local jobs.
"We will challenge this order in court," the spokesperson said. "The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive."
TikTok is wildly popular with young people, but its Chinese ownership has raised fears that Beijing could use it to collect data on Western users or push pro-China narratives and misinformation. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.
TikTok faces intensifying scrutiny... Read More