Umpf / Blog / Friday Social: Twitter Tackles Misinformation, Instagram Makes Changes and Eurovision Fever Strikes

Friday Social: Twitter Tackles Misinformation, Instagram Makes Changes and Eurovision Fever Strikes

  • Social Media

Our #FridaySocial is a weekly round-up of the key social media news stories from the previous seven days.  Let us know your thoughts in the comments or via Twitter – @Umpf

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Snapchat’s Controversial New Filter

Snapchat’s new filter has been incredibly popular, with people flocking to the app to use it – and even enticing former users to re-download the app to try it out for themselves.

The gender-swapping filter offers people an insight into what they might look like as the opposite gender. Yet it’s not as harmless as many users may think:

Twitter Tackles Misinformation

In response to a rise in measles outbreaks, Twitter is introducing new search tools that aim to help users find credible resources about vaccines.

When users search for keywords related to vaccines, they’ll be prompted to sources from Twitter’s trusted information partners, for example vaccines.gov in the US – a website by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Twitter vice president of Trust and Safety, Del Harvey, said in a blog post: “At Twitter, we understand the importance of vaccines in preventing illness and disease and recognize the role that Twitter plays in disseminating important public health information. We think it’s important to help people find reliable information that enhances their health and well-being.”

Earlier this year, YouTube announced it would demonetize all anti-vaccine videos, and Facebook started to ‘downrank’ anti-vaccine content on its news feed, whilst hiding it on Instagram.

‘One-Strike’ Policy For Facebook Live Users

This week Facebook announced it would ban anyone from live-streaming on the social media platform if they’ve violated any of their new Facebook Live rules.

First-time offenders who break Facebook’s most serious rules will be suspended from using Facebook Live for a set period of time.

The announcement comes after calls for stricter regulations following the Christchurch mosque attacks in New Zealand, which were live streamed by the attackers.

Facebook has also pledged £5.8m for new research to help detect banned content.

And finally…

Eurovision fever has well and truly taken over at the Umpf office, and we’re now listening to the 24/7 Eurovision radio channel as well as dabbling in a rather competitive sweepstake.

But the suspense is almost over, with the finals kicking off at 8pm on Saturday, May 18th.

We’ve been enjoying the Twitter commentary just as much as the show itself – here are some of our favourites: