Read before retweeting: Twitter aims to limit sharing unread articles

Twitter, a social media platform that allows people to share their thoughts with the world, has been more than once misused by people for their own personal benefits, knowingly or unknowingly.

Twitter believes that people usually tend to share articles without reading the whole article, and only judging by the headline.

This has, sometimes, led to spreading of fake news and misinformation. To make sure that more such instances don't happen, Twitter is now trying out a new feature that will reconfirm from people before they share any unread article.

Also read| Now 'Aladdin,' 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' to run with disclaimer 'outdated attitude' on TV

“Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you tweet it," Twitter said in a statement. “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.”

Following this, for some selected users, a prompt asking people if they really want to retweet a link that they have not tapped on will be shown before they retweet. The trial is right now only for Android users.

The action was taken after a 2016 study from computer scientists at Columbia University and Microsoft found that 59 per cent of links posted on Twitter are never clicked.

Twitter has made it clear that such tweets will not be blocked or deleted, but will only be given a 'friendly' warning.