Twitter has announced a new feature on its platform that will allow accounts to identify themselves as bots, by adding a label to their profile.
Twitter said the review was based on research that found people wanting more info on non-human accounts.
What Are Good Bot Accounts?
The company provides several examples of “good bots” including accounts sharing vaccine updates, information on earthquake activity or items from public museums.
The new feature will not be mandatory for any account.
The company will continue to delete improper and bad bot accounts that it deems violating the company’s platform rules.
Bots are often associated with false information on social media – and it has caused a lot of controversy for the company.
Misinformation On Twitter
A study by Carnegie Mellon University last year found that about half the Twitter accounts that circulate messages on social media about the coronavirus may be automated accounts.
Twitter has removed tens of millions of suspected bot accounts in recent years.
However some automated accounts are seen by Twitter as a positive impact on the platform.
One Twitter account has been highlighted as “good bot”. The account live tweets every time there is an earthquake in San Francisco.
Twitter first viewed the program in May, in an effort to provide people with more information in order to automatically c separate personalized accounts and bots.
Test Project
The company believes that the labels will increase the legitimacy of such accounts and build trust and transparency with their audience.
Twitter said it was launching a small number of developer accounts, and planned to release for all developers by the end of the year.
However it is not clear how many bot accounts will like this offer, as we dont know if these account holders want to advertise that they are not operated by humans.
