Twitter’s new feature gets you to read articles before you can Retweet them

Twitter announced that they’re currently testing out a new feature that will remind you to click through an article before letting you share it on your own Twitter feed. However, it is only available for Android users, for now.

The Twitter Support account mentioned that this new feature is aimed to “promote informed discussion”. While it’s only available for Android users in English for now, Twitter did not say when it plans to bring the feature to other operating systems.

“For this experiment, if you tap to Retweet an article link, we’ll check if you’ve recently clicked the article link only on Twitter, not elsewhere. When you see the prompt, you’ll always have the option to go ahead and Retweet,” wrote Twitter Support.

The new feature is meant to discourage people who comment or share on social media without actually reading the content. However, the feedback in the replies section for Twitter’s announcement was—mixed.

Some of them even pointed out possibilities that Twitter might have “a Twitter click through revenue stream”, to which Twitter replied with, “We’re not testing ad products with these prompts. They’re designed to empower healthy and informed public conversation.”

“We wanted to test a way to improve the health of a conversation as it gets started. And to see if reminding people to read an article before they share it leads to more informed discussion,” Twitter continued.

In late May, Twitter labeled a few Tweets by Donald Trump as “potentially misleading“, to which he signed an executive order that “aims to defend free speech”. Although, at the moment, the order won’t come into effect just yet. 

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