WASHINGTON: Twitter on Wednesday (Jun 10) said it was testing a new feature on Android devices that prompts users to open articles before sharing them.
The feature, which asks users whether they have read an article before they retweet it, appears to be aimed at slowing the spread of unverified information.
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"Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you tweet it," Twitter's support team tweeted on its account.
"To help promote informed discussion, we're testing a new prompt on Android – when you retweet an article that you haven't opened on Twitter, we may ask if you'd like to open it first."
Twitter said it would be testing the feature "to help promote informed discussion".
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In a reply to one user on its platform, the support team tweeted: "We wanted to test a way to improve the health of a conversation as it gets started."
But it said users will "always have the option" to go ahead with the retweet.
The social media company has been tightening its policies in recent years amid criticism that its hands-off approach had allowed abuse, fake accounts and misinformation to thrive on its platform.
