There's Now an Extra Step to Tweeting Unread Articles

Android users may encounter prompt designed to 'promote informed discussion'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 11, 2020 12:44 PM CDT
There's Now an Extra Step to Tweeting Unread Articles
The Twitter app icon on a mobile phone.   (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

You may hear from Twitter if trying to share on the platform an article that you haven't actually read. In an effort to crack down on the longstanding issue of unread links, Twitter is testing a new feature on Android devices, reports the Guardian. “Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you tweet it,” Twitter says in a statement. "When you retweet an article that you haven’t opened on Twitter, we may ask if you’d like to open it first.”

One user received a message reading, "Headlines don't tell the full story. Want to read this before Retweeting?" per BuzzFeed, which describes the new feature as "automated passive-aggression." Twitter says it hopes that adding "friction" to the process may cut down on what is apparently a common practice. A 2016 study found 59% of links on Twitter weren't clicked, per the Guardian. The strategy follows a similar one for dealing with harmful language. Twitter began prompting iOS users to revise tweets containing such language as part of a "limited experiment" last month. (More Twitter stories.)

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