Twitter will now identify federal government and state-affiliated media accounts

This story belongs to Elections 2020, CNET’s protection of the ballot in November and its after-effects.

To assist its users determine state-affiliated media accounts, Twitter said it’s now adding a label that’ll appear on the profile page of those and government-affiliated accounts, and on the tweets sent out and shared by such accounts. Twitter stated Thursday that it’s currently utilizing the labels for accounts related to China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States, which it plans to broaden the labels to other nations with time.

The objective is to offer individuals with context so they can make educated choices about what they see and how they engage, Twitter stated. 

The labels will reveal which nation the account is connected with and whether the account is run by a federal government agent or state-affiliated media entity. Twitter will utilize a little icon of a flag to indicate a federal government account and of a podium for state-affiliated media.

Among those who’ll get federal government labels are foreign ministers, ambassadors, main spokespeople and essential diplomatic leaders. Accounts coming from state-affiliated media entities, their editors-in-chief and their senior personnel will show a podium icon. As part of the effort, Twitter stated it will not magnify state-affiliated media accounts or their tweets through its suggestion systems, consisting of on its house timeline and through alerts and search.

The labels are the current relocation by Twitter to confine false information. The business mostly prohibited political advertisements in 2015, heading into this year’s November elections. Facebook previously this summer season likewise took the action of labeling posts by state-controlled media.