Twitter adds way to report voter-tricking tweets
San Francisco: Twitter on Wednesday began making it easier to report tweets aimed at interfering with people voting, starting first in Europe and India.
An option to report Twitter messages as being misleading about voting was being added to the one-to-many messaging service's app in India and Europe, with a promise it would be expanded globally through the year.
"Any attempts to undermine the process of registering to vote or engaging in the electoral process is contrary to our company's core values," the Twitter safety team said in an online post.
"We are further expanding our enforcement capabilities in this area by creating a dedicated reporting feature within the product to allow users to more easily report this content to us."
Twitter teams entrusted to review reported content have been trained as part of an enhanced appeals process in the event tweet removal decisions are challenged, according to the San Francisco-based company.
"You may not use Twitter's services for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections," the safety team said.
Examples of misleading information fired off in tweets included falsely asserting people could vote by email, phone, text messages or even using Twitter messages.
Tweets have also been used to trick people into going to the polls on the wrong days or times, missing opportunities to cast ballots.
Twitter and other online social media services have been under pressure to prevent their platforms from being used to spread falsehoods aimed at influencing voting, as appeared to be the case in the US presidential election in 2016.
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American Airlines plane catches fire at Denver airport gate. Passengers evacuated on slides
Denver (AP): An American Airlines plane caught fire after landing at Denver International Airport on Thursday, prompting slides to be deployed so passengers could evacuate quickly.
Flight 1006, which was headed from the Colorado Springs Airport to Dallas Fort Worth, diverted to Denver and landed safely around 5:15 p.m. after the crew reported engine vibrations, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
While taxiing to the gate, an engine on the Boeing 737-800 caught fire, the FAA added.
Photos and videos posted by news outlets showed passengers standing on a plane's wing as smoke surrounded the aircraft. The FAA said passengers exited using the slides.
American said in a statement that the flight experienced an engine-related issue after taxiing to the gate. There was no immediate clarification on exactly when the plane caught fire.
The 172 passengers and six crew members were taken to the terminal, airline officials said.
No injuries were reported.
“We thank our crew members, DEN team and first responders for their quick and decisive action with the safety of everyone on board and on the ground as the priority,” American said.
Firefighters put out the blaze by the evening, an airport spokesperson told media outlets.
The FAA said it will investigate.
The country has seen a recent spate of aviation disasters and close calls stoking fears about air travel, though flying remains a very safe mode of transport.
