Twitter began "Birdwatch," a community moderation program, this week that suits perfectly what the Left is looking for when it called for "citizen detectives" to monitor Trump supporters recently.
"Today we're introducing @Birdwatch, a community-driven approach to addressing misleading information. And we want your help," Twitter posted through its Support account with a video showing how Birdwatch works.
"We're looking for people to test this out in the US--you can add notes with helpful context to Tweets that you think are misleading. For now, these notes won't appear directly on Twitter, but anyone in the US can view them at: https://birdwatch.twitter.com," they added.
"We'll use the notes and your feedback to help shape this program and learn how to reach our goal of letting the Twitter community decide when and what context is added to a Tweet," they ended providing a link to their blog for more details on the program and on how to apply to be a part of Birdwatch.
The Blaze reported that the newly launched community-led moderation forum has already received much criticism for "the possibility of shutting down free speech".
"Let's be real: @birdwatch will mainly be progressives gaslighting center and right-of-center stories," Radio Host Dana Loesch tweeted Monday.
Let's be real: @birdwatch will mainly be progressives gaslighting center and right-of-center stories.
"” Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) January 25, 2021
Meanwhile, sport historian Jordan Goldstein pointed out, "Enshrining groupthink is the last thing social media needs to emphasize."
"Starting a feature that allows every Tom, Dick & Karen to add notes to a Tweet *for context* has the potential for incredible misuse by people who just want to shut down debate on a topic, for their own political or financial gain. But let's do another social experiment anyway!" Kiryas Joel School District Superintendent Joel Petlin sarcastically raised.
The Blaze added that "Twitter's experiment comes at a time when some of its competitors, like Parler, are being deplatformed for lacking enough moderation against threats of violence." They also cited users who are not allowed to participate in the program of the Big Tech platform that has recently faced "increased scrutiny of bias" ever since it permanently suspended former President Donald Trump's account along with "thousands of" other accounts who allegedly broke their terms of service.
While The Verge said Birdwatch "looks like a new attempt to root out propaganda and misinformation," revealing that the program actually secretly existed since August 2020.
Twitter Product Vice President Keith Coleman revealed in the company's blog that Birdwatch comes from their desire not to "limit efforts to circumstances where something breaks" their "rules or receives widespread public attention" alongside their desire to "broaden the range of voices that are part of tackling" problems of that sort.
"We believe a community-driven approach can help. That's why today we're introducing Birdwatch, a pilot in the US of a new community-driven approach to help address misleading information on Twitter," he said Monday.
Coleman explained that Birdwatch "allows people to identify information in Tweets they believe is misleading and write notes that provide informative context."
"We believe this approach has the potential to respond quickly when misleading information spreads, adding context that people trust and find valuable," he stressed. "Eventually we aim to make notes visible directly on Tweets for the global Twitter audience, when there is consensus from a broad and diverse set of contributors."
Coleman pointed out that, being in he first phase of the pilot program, the said notes are "being intentionally" placed on "a separate Birdwatch site" that participants can rate for its "helpfulness" and appropriateness. He said the notes "will not have an effect on the way people see Tweets or our system recommendations."
