In the wake of other social networks, Twitter in turn launches into the fight against "falsified" photos and videos. The platform intends to focus on modified content (video or audio montages, edited images) which aim to deceive the public or risk harming people, by inciting violence or by infringing their freedom of expression.
Tweets falling into these categories will be removed or tagged with a warning, starting in March. The network can also reduce the visibility of messages or add context.
Mainly targeted rigging, audio or video
"This new rule is in addition to the many other existing rules" to regulate Twitter, said Yoel Roth, responsible for the integrity of the platform. "For example, we have been preventing the spread of images and videos of fabricated or falsified sexual content, which is very widespread on the Internet, for years." The social network thus targets rigging, notably audio or video, but does not directly attack spurious written messages, while it has also prohibited advertisements of a political nature.
A video montage, like the one which lent to the democratic candidate Joe Biden of the racist remarks at the beginning of the year, should no longer be cited on Twitter. One of the sharing tweets in this video had been viewed over a million times.
Pressure from European and American authorities
YouTube, Google’s video platform, this week announced similar measures on “manipulated or falsified content”, “in order to deceive users” and “who pose a flagrant risk of harm”.
Most major social networks have implemented measures combining artificial intelligence and human resources to fight against disinformation, from fake news to "deep fakes" (fake photos or videos, hyper-realistic). They react in particular to pressure from European and American authorities, while manipulation campaigns carried out notably on Facebook in 2016 tried to influence opinion during major elections, such as the presidential election in the United States or the referendum on Brexit in the UK.
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