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Coronavirus: Staying safe and informed on Twitter

By
Tuesday, 12 January 2021

Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy.

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As the global community faces the COVID-19 pandemic together, Twitter is helping people find reliable information, connect with others, and follow what’s happening in real time.

Click through the menu below to find the latest updates on our critical work.

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Editorial note: This blog was first posted on Friday, 3 April 2020 and last updated Tuesday, 12 January 2021, to reflect updated proactive enforcement metrics.

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1. Helping people find reliable information

 

2. Protecting the public conversation

 

3. Partnering with organizations and public engagement

 

4. Empowering Research of COVID-19 on Twitter

 

5. Ensuring site reliability

 

6. Keeping our employees and partners safe

 

7. Sharing Twitter’s metrics

 

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1. Helping people find reliable information

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May 18, 2020
COVID-19 tab in Explore

We’ve added a new tab in Explore so it’s easier to find the latest information on COVID-19. The tab will include curated pages highlighting the latest news such as public service announcements, Tweets from public health experts and journalists, as well as stories about how people are coping and helping each other. 

This is available in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, India, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States for people on twitter.com, iOS, and Android.

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March 20, 2020
COVID-19 account verification


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March 4, 2020
Global expansion of the COVID-19 search prompt

Launched six days before the official designation of the virus in January 2020, we continue to expand our dedicated search prompt feature to ensure that when you come to the service for information about COVID-19, you are met with credible, authoritative content at the top of search. We have been consistently monitoring the conversation on the service to make sure keywords — including common misspellings — also generate the search prompt.

In each country where we have launched the initiative, we have partnered with the national public health agency or the World Health Organization (@WHO) directly. The proactive search prompt is in place with official local partnerships in more than 70 countries around the world.

They include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vietnam, and Yemen.

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A dedicated COVID-19 event page

We have also ensured the Events feature contains credible information about COVID-19 and is available at the top of the Home timeline for everyone in 30+ countries.

Read the original post.

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January 29, 2020
Launch of a new dedicated #KnowTheFacts search prompt

As the global conversation continues around the spread of COVID-19, we want to share the work we’re doing to surface the right information, to promote constructive engagement, and to highlight credible information on this emerging issue. We’ve seen tens of millions of Tweets on this topic in the past four weeks and that trend looks set to continue.

Given the rapidly evolving nature of the issue and the growing international response, we’ve launched a new dedicated search prompt to ensure that when you come to the service for information about the #coronavirus, you’re met with credible, authoritative information first. In addition, we’re halting any auto-suggest results that are likely to direct individuals to noncredible content on Twitter. This is an expansion of our Know the facts prompt, which we specifically put in place for the public to find clear, credible information on immunization and vaccination health.

Our official #coronavirus partnerships are now in place in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vietnam, and Yemen.

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Direct engagement with organizations working to contain the threat

Finally, our Global Public Policy team is proactively seeking ways to integrate the product with organizations involved in the effort to contain the threat. Experts, NGOs, and governments play a pivotal public service role, using Twitter to reach people with the right information when they need it. We’re committed to playing our part to amplify authoritative, official content across the globe. 

For more, please follow @TwitterGov and @Policy, where we will provide updates as appropriate.

Read the original post.

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2. Protecting the public conversation

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July 14, 2020 

Clarifying how we assess misleading information

Today we are further clarifying our rules against potentially misleading information about COVID-19.  This update includes additional details on what factors we take into account when considering content for removal.

Our primary goal with addressing misleading information about COVID-19 has not changed. We will continue to remove demonstrably false or potentially misleading content that has the highest risk of causing harm. However, we are providing additional details about our framework for evaluating a potentially misleading claim, including when we would or would not require Tweets to include an explicit call to action (e.g. “everyone should stop wearing masks!”) in order to take action.

When evaluating whether or not to remove the most harmful misinformation on our platform, we consider three criteria: 

1. Is the content advancing a claim of fact regarding COVID-19?

For a Tweet to qualify as a misleading claim, it must be an assertion of fact (not an opinion), expressed definitively, and intended to influence others’ behavior. Some examples include information about:

  • the origin, nature, and characteristics of the virus;
  • preventative measures, treatments/cures, and other precautions;
  • the prevalence of viral spread, or the current state of the crisis;
  • official health advisories, restrictions, regulations, and public-service announcements;
  • how vulnerable communities are affected by/responding to the pandemic.

2. Is the claim demonstrably false or misleading? 

Under this policy, we consider claims to be false or misleading if (1) they have been confirmed to be false by subject-matter experts, such as public health authorities; or (2) they include information which is shared in a way that could confuse or deceive people. Some of the factors we consider include:

  • Whether the content of the Tweet, including media, has been significantly altered, manipulated, doctored, or fabricated;
  • Whether claims are presented improperly or out of context;
  • Whether claims shared in a Tweet are widely accepted by experts to be inaccurate or false.

3. Would belief in this information, as presented, lead to harm?

We will not be able to take enforcement action on every Tweet that contains incomplete or disputed information about COVID-19. Our focus in the COVID-19 policy is narrowed to address those claims that could adversely impact an individual, group, or community. We are most concerned with misleading information that:

  • May increase the likelihood of exposure to the virus;
  • May have adverse effects on the public health system’s capacity to cope with the crisis;
  • Could lead to discrimination and avoidance of communities and/or places of business based on their perceived affiliation with protected groups.

COVID-19 related content that meet all three of the criteria defined above—i.e. that are claims of fact, demonstrably false or misleading, and likely to cause harm—may not be shared on Twitter and are subject to removal. Accounts that break this rule repeatedly may be permanently suspended. Further details about some of the most common types of misleading claims which we will remove under this policy are provided below.

We may label or place a warning on tweets to provide additional context in situations where the risks of harm associated with a Tweet are less severe but where people may still be confused or misled. This will make it easier to find facts and make informed decisions about what people see on Twitter. In line with our existing enforcement approach, Tweets that are labeled under this expanded guidance will have reduced visibility across the service. Reducing the visibility of Tweets means that we will not amplify the Tweets on a number of surfaces across Twitter. However, anyone following the account will still be able to see the Tweet and Retweet.

The world has changed since this pandemic was first declared and public health experts, medical professionals, scientists and researchers now know more about how we can best stay safe and healthy. As the situation evolves and as global health advisories shift to cope with the pandemic, we are committed to ensuring our rules and enforcement actions reflect that evolution.

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May 11, 2020 

Updating our approach to misleading information 

In serving the public conversation, our goal is to make it easy to find credible information on Twitter and to limit the spread of potentially harmful and misleading content. Starting today, we’re introducing new labels and warning messages that will provide additional context and information on some Tweets containing disputed or misleading information related to COVID-19. For more information see the full update to our approach on misleading information here.

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April 22, 2020

Broadening our guidance on unverified claims

Going forward and specific to COVID-19, unverified claims that have the potential to incite people to action, could lead to the destruction or damage of critical infrastructure, or cause widespread panic/social unrest may be considered a violation of our policies. Examples include, “The National Guard just announced that no more shipments of food will be arriving for two months — run to the grocery store ASAP and buy everything” or “5G causes coronavirus — go destroy the cell towers in your neighborhood!".

 

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April 2, 2020

Our ads policy for COVID-19

In response to the shifting advertising landscape, and in order to support helpful causes during this time, we're now allowing managed clients and partners to advertise content containing implicit or explicit reference to COVID-19 in the following use cases, with restrictions:

  • Adjustments to business practices and/or models in response to COVID-19
  • Support for customers and employees related to COVID-19

The following restrictions apply to these use cases:

  • Distasteful references to COVID-19 (or variations) are prohibited
  • Content may not be sensational or likely to incite panic
  • Prices of products related to COVID-19 may not be inflated
  • The promotion of certain products related to COVID-19 may be prohibited. We currently prohibit the advertising of medical facemasks and alcohol hand sanitizers. Please note that other products may be added to this list and enforcement can be retroactive.
  • The mention of vaccines, treatments and test kits is permitted, only in the form of information, from news publishers which have been exempted under the Political Ads Content policy.

Read more about the policy.
For more COVID-19 Twitter resources for advertisers, visit marketing.twitter.com/covid19.

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April 1, 2020
Broadening our definition of "harm"

We have broadened our definition of harm to address content that goes directly against guidance from authoritative sources of global and local public health information. Rather than reports, we are enforcing this in close coordination with trusted partners, including public health authorities and governments, and continue to use and consult with information from those sources when reviewing content.

  • We’ll continue to prioritize removing content when it has a clear call to action that could directly pose a risk to people’s health or well-being, but we want to make it clear that we will not be able to take enforcement action on every Tweet that contains incomplete or disputed information about COVID-19. This is not meant to limit good faith discussion or expressing hope about ongoing studies related to potential medical interventions that show promise.
  • Since introducing these policies on March 18, we have removed more than 1,100 Tweets containing misleading and potentially harmful content from Twitter. Additionally, our automated systems have challenged more than 1.5 million accounts which were targeting discussions around COVID-19 with spammy or manipulative behaviors. We will continue to use both technology and our teams to help us identify and stop spammy behavior and accounts.
  • We may also apply the public interest notice in cases where world leaders violate the COVID-19 guidelines.
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Automated technology and what to expect if you file a report

How are we using automated technology during this time?

  • To help us review reports more efficiently by surfacing content that's most likely to cause harm and should be reviewed first.
  • To help us proactively identify rule-breaking content before it's reported. Our systems learn from past decisions by our review teams, so over time, the technology is able to help us rank content or challenge accounts automatically.
  • For content that requires additional context, such as misleading information around COVID-19, our teams will continue to review those reports manually.

What you can expect if you file a report during this time:

  • If you've reported an account or Tweet to us, it will take longer than normal for us to get back to you. We appreciate your patience as we continue to make adjustments.
  • Because these automated systems don't have all of the context and insight our team has, we’ll make mistakes. If you think we’ve made a mistake, you can let us know and appeal here.

We appreciate your patience as we work to keep our teams safe, while also making sure we're protecting everyone on Twitter. You can always continue to use hide replies, mute, block, reply filters, and the other tools we offer you to control conversations on the service.

Read the original post.

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March 27, 2020

An update on our content moderation work

We have broadened our definition of harm to address content that goes directly against guidance from authoritative sources of global and local public health information. Rather than reports, we are enforcing this in close coordination with trusted partners, including public health authorities and governments, and continue to use and consult with information from those sources when reviewing content.

Under this guidance, we will require people to remove Tweets that include:

  • Statements which are intended to influence others to violate recommended COVID-19 related guidance from global or local health authorities to decrease someone’s likelihood of exposure to COVID-19, such as: “social distancing is not effective,” or “now that it’s summertime, you don’t need a mask anymore, so don’t wear your mask!”
  • Note: We will not require the removal of Tweets that include information about or encouragement to participate in demonstrations or protests.    
  • Misleading claims that unharmful but ineffective methods are cures or absolute treatments for COVID-19, such as “Coronavirus is vulnerable to UV radiation - walking outside in bright sunlight will prevent COVID-19.”
  • Description of harmful treatments or preventative measures which are known to be ineffective or are being shared out of context to mislead people, such as “drinking bleach and ingesting colloidal silver will cure COVID-19.”
  • Denial of established scientific facts about transmission during the incubation period or transmission guidance from global and local health authorities, such as “COVID-19 does not infect children because we haven’t seen any cases of children being sick.”
  • False or misleading information that would allow the reader to diagnose themselves as either having or not having COVID-19, such as “If you can hold your breath for 10 seconds, you don’t have coronavirus.”
  • Unverified claims that have the potential to incite people to action, could lead to the destruction or damage of critical infrastructure, or could lead to widespread panic/social unrest may be considered a violation of our policies. Examples include,  “The National Guard just announced that no more shipments of food will be arriving for two months — run to the grocery store ASAP and buy everything” or “5G causes coronavirus — #BURN5G.”
  • Tweets offering the sale or facilitation of non-prescription treatments/cures for COVID-19, or those which advertise cures or treatments for COVID-19 that require a prescription or physician consultation.
  • Specific and unverified claims made by people impersonating a government or health official or organization such as a parody account of official public health advisors claiming that hydroxychloroquine will prevent COVID-19.
  • Claims that specific groups or nationalities are never susceptible to COVID-19, such as “people with dark skin are immune to COVID-19 due to melanin production” or are more susceptible, such as “avoid businesses owned by Chinese people as they are more likely to have COVID-19.”
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March 16, 2020
Our use of automated technology

We have increased our use of machine learning and automation to take a wide range of actions on potentially abusive and manipulative content. We want to be clear: while we work to ensure our systems are consistent, they can sometimes lack the context that our teams bring, and this may result in us making mistakes. As a result, we will not permanently suspend any accounts based solely on our automated enforcement systems. Instead, we will continue to look for opportunities to build in human review checks where they will be most impactful. We appreciate your patience as we work to get it right — this is a necessary step to scale our work to protect the conversation on Twitter.

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Additional triage, quality assurance, and our ongoing review of Twitter Rules

Here are a few more things we are doing to protect the public conversation:

  • Building systems that enable our team to continue to enforce our rules remotely around the world.
  • We’re also increasing our employee assistance and wellness support for everyone involved in this critical work, and ensuring people’s privacy and security stay a top priority.
  • Instituting a global content severity triage system so we are prioritizing the potential rule violations that present the biggest risk of harm and reducing the burden on people to report them.
  • Executing daily quality assurance checks on our content enforcement processes to ensure we’re agile in responding to this rapidly evolving, global disease outbreak.
  • Engaging with our partners around the world to ensure escalation paths remain open and urgent cases can be brought to our attention.
  • Continuing to review the Twitter Rules in the context of COVID-19 and considering ways in which they may need to evolve to account for new behaviors.
  • As we’ve said on many occasions, our approach to protecting the public conversation is never static. That’s particularly relevant in these unprecedented times. We intend to review our thinking daily and will ensure we’re sharing updates here on any new clarifications to our rules or major changes to how we’re enforcing them.
  • Finally, we’re encouraged that our service is being used around the world to provide free, authoritative health information, and to ensure that everyone has access to the conversations they need to protect themselves and their families. For more, our dedicated COVID-19 Event page has the latest facts right at the top of your timeline, and we’ll continue to share updates @TwitterSafety and @TwitterSupport.
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March 4, 2020
Our zero-tolerance approach to platform manipulation

The power of a uniquely open service during a public health emergency is clear. The speed and borderless nature of Twitter presents an extraordinary opportunity to get the word out and ensure people have access to the latest information from expert sources around the world.

To support that mission, our global Trust & Safety team is continuing its zero-tolerance approach to platform manipulation and any other attempts to abuse our service at this critical juncture. At present, we’re not seeing significant coordinated platform manipulation efforts around these issues. However, we will remain vigilant and have invested substantially in our proactive abilities to ensure trends, search, and other common areas of the service are protected from malicious behaviors. As ever, we also welcome constructive and open information sharing from governments and academics to further our work in these areas — we’re in this together.

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January 29, 2020
Preventing platform manipulation

As the global conversation continues around the spread of COVID-19, we want to share the work we’re doing to surface the right information, to promote constructive engagement, and to highlight credible information on this emerging issue.

At present, we’re not seeing significant coordinated attempts to spread disinformation at scale about this issue. However, we will remain vigilant and have invested significantly in our proactive abilities to ensure trends, search, and other common areas of the service are protected from malicious behaviors. As ever, those who engage in these practices will be removed from our service. We do not permit platform manipulation and we encourage people to think before sharing or engaging in deliberate attempts to undermine the public conversation.

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3. Partnering with organizations and public engagement

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April 10, 2020

Resources for those battling substance abuse disorders, in recovery
As people across the country and around the world #StayHome to slow the spread of #COVID19, it’s imperative we think about the significant impact these measures have on those experiencing substance use disorders and those in recovery. 

In partnership with Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies, Twitter is building on its collaboration with Google, Facebook, and Microsoft to showcase a variety of resources on TechTogether.co to support the #RecoveryMovement. The site is a collection of resources to help those experiencing a substance use disorder and the associated stigma.

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April 7, 2020
#WorldHealthDay

Clapping for our healthcare heroes

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Twitter Q&A with the World Health Organization

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April 2, 2020
#AsktheGov & #AsktheMayor Twitter Q&As 

State and local elected officials across America are using Twitter to consistently provide factual information and resources to their constituents and the broader public around #COVID19. To optimize and elevate this work, Twitter organized two nationwide events where governors and mayors answered constituent questions through Twitter Q&As. These #AsktheGov and #AsktheMayor events provided an opportunity for hundreds of Americans to receive direct answers from their elected leaders and allowed millions of people to access those critical resources and information.

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March 24, 2020
Supporting the #BuildforCovid19 Hackathon

Twitter supports the COVID-19 Global Hackathon, an opportunity for developers to build software solutions that drive social impact with the aim of tackling some of the challenges related to the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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March 24, 2020
Protecting and supporting journalists

All around the world, we’ve seen our service connecting people with the authoritative health information they need to protect themselves and their loved ones. That work can only be successful if people have access to the news and information they need.

Right now, every journalist is a COVID-19 journalist. From the stories of healthcare workers on the front lines, to analysis of the real human and economic cost of the pandemic, reporters around the world are still writing, still exposing themselves to harm, still giving us the facts. Journalism is core to our service and we have a deep and enduring responsibility to protect that work. This week we’re contributing to two critical organizations that are working tirelessly to uphold the fundamental values of a free press during this pandemic.

We’re donating 1 million dollars evenly distributed between the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Women’s Media Foundation. These funds will be used to ensure these organizations can continue their work in the face of new economic strains and to directly support journalists. Their shared efforts to advocate for the rights of vulnerable reporters and to guarantee an equal share of voice for women in the industry has never been more relevant or important.

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We are grateful for Twitter’s generous support. Our efforts at CPJ are focused on ensuring that journalists around the world have the information and resources they need to cover the COVID-19 pandemic safely. And we are pushing back against governments that are censoring the news, and restricting the work of the press. We need timely, accurate information flowing within countries and across borders so that political leaders, health policy experts, and the public at large can make informed decisions at this critical moment.

Joel Simon

Executive Director, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

‎@Joelcpj‎

Right now, there is a great need to support our community of journalists covering, and dealing with, this global pandemic. Based on our decades of work with journalists who operate in dangerous and difficult environments, the IWMF understands the critical role that safety and security plays in the industry. Thanks to the incredible support of Twitter, the IWMF will be able to address the needs of our community of journalists more deeply and robustly. By supporting journalists from diverse communities, together we can support the most representative news possible in this evolving time.

Elisa Lees Muñoz

Executive Director, International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF)

‎@ElisaLeesMunoz‎

COVID-19 has been with us for months but the power of the virus is now being felt on all corners of the globe. We’re witnessing real-time public conversation on an issue that connects us all on a core human level and our purpose has never been stronger. We will continue to work with our partners as the crisis evolves and are grateful for their journalistic leadership and commitment to the power of the pen. 

For more, please follow @TwitterForGood, @pressfreedom, and @IWMF.

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March 16, 2020
Working together with government and industry peers to keep people safe

We’re working with our peer companies and fellow industry leaders in the US to keep people safe and stop the spread of COVID-19. Through this collaboration, we’re working to elevate authoritative health information and provide resources for the most vulnerable populations. To see a hub of online resources and an overview of the work from Internet Association members, visit covid19.internetassociation.org

Here’s more on our collaboration with peer companies and the government:

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March 13, 2020
Promoting proper handwashing with the #SafeHands emoji

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March 4, 2020
Building partnerships to protect the public conversation

Our entire company is stepping up its internal and external efforts to build partnerships, protect the public conversation, help people find authoritative health information, raise relief funds, and contribute pro bono advertising support to ensure people are getting the right message, from the right source.

With a critical mass of expert organizations, official government accounts, health professionals, and epidemiologists on our service, our goal is to elevate and amplify authoritative health information as far as possible.

Global expansion of the COVID-19 search prompt 

Launched six days before the official designation of the virus in January, we continue to expand our dedicated search prompt feature to ensure that when you come to the service for information about COVID-19, you are met with credible, authoritative content at the top of your search experience. We have been consistently monitoring the conversation on the service to make sure keywords — including common misspellings — also generate the search prompt.

In each country where we have launched the initiative, we have partnered with the national public health agency or the World Health Organization (@WHO) directly. The proactive search prompt is in place with official local partnerships in more than 70 countries around the world.

They include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vietnam, and Yemen.

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#AdsForGood support and additional protections

Based on our Inappropriate Content Policy, we will halt any attempt by advertisers to opportunistically use the COVID-19 outbreak to target inappropriate ads. Government entities that want to disseminate public health information will be permitted to promote ads on COVID-19. In the case of COVID-19, we have put additional safeguards into place in order to facilitate the sharing of trusted public health information and to reduce potential harm to users. We are currently prohibiting the promotion of all medical masks and alcohol hand sanitizers due to strong correlation to COVID-19 and instances of inflated prices globally.

In addition, we’re committing Ads for Good credits to nonprofit organizations to ensure they can build campaigns to fact-check and get reputable health information to the widest possible audiences. For example, as part of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN/@factchecknet), we have supported the Spanish organization @maldita_es and @malditobulo, which focuses on mitigating the impact of disinformation on public discourse through fact-checking and data journalism techniques. In Asia, we have partnered with the Taiwan Fact Checking Center (@taiwantfc), which has been using Twitter to connect with IFCN fact checkers around the world via #CoronavirusFacts. They are working in real time to find credible information and debunk rumors in Chinese.

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Furthering our partnerships

Our Global Public Policy team has open lines of communication with relevant multinational stakeholders, including the World Health Organization, numerous global government and public health organizations, and officials around the world, to ensure they can troubleshoot account issues, get their experts verified, and seek strategic counsel as they use the power of Twitter to mitigate harm.

We’re also in close contact with our industry peers and will attend all relevant cross-functional meetings. As a uniquely open service, our data is being used in research every day and our researchers hub is publicly available. We welcome applications for the use of Twitter data to support research on COVID-19. We will also explore further #DataForGood partnerships to assess how our data products can enhance academic and NGO understanding of public health emergencies now and into the future.

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Donation matching

We've set up a dedicated internal COVID-19 campaign page through our employee donation matching program to support humanitarian response and relief efforts around the world. Any Twitter employee can donate to relevant nonprofit organizations, and Twitter will match donations up to $2,000 per employee. 

What can you do?

Looking for advice on how best to use Twitter in a time like this? Follow @WHO and your local health ministry — seek out the authoritative health information and ignore the noise. See something suspicious or abusive, report it to us immediately. Most importantly, think before you Tweet. Through Twitter Moments, we have curated longer-form content that helps tell the full story of what’s happening around COVID-19 globally. For educators and parents, consult our media literacy guide, which was built in partnership with @UNESCO, here.

We’re absolutely committed to playing our part and will continue to provide substantive updates as this situation evolves. For more, follow @TwitterSafety and @Policy.

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4. Empowering Research of COVID-19 on Twitter

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April 29, 2020

Enabling study of the public conversation in a time of crisis

To further support Twitter’s ongoing efforts to protect the public conversation, and help people find authoritative health information around COVID-19, we’re releasing a new endpoint into Twitter Developer Labs to enable approved developers and researchers to study the public conversation about COVID-19 in real-time. 

The COVID-19 stream endpoint provides access to COVID-19 and Coronavirus related public Tweets in real-time as defined by the criteria used to power this topic on Twitter. This is a unique dataset that covers many tens of millions of Tweets daily and offers insight into the evolving global public conversation surrounding an unprecedented crisis. Making this access available for free is one of the most unique and valuable things Twitter can do as the world comes together to protect our communities and seek answers to pressing challenges. 

You can read more about this endpoint and the application process on our developer blog.

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5. Ensuring site reliability

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March 27, 2020

How we're keeping the service running and the Tweets flowing

Keeping the service running and the Tweets flowing is one of our top priorities in these difficult times. Our work has never been more critical and our service has never been in higher demand. In the past few weeks, we have seen more and more people turn to Twitter to participate in the public conversation and follow what’s happening in real time.

  • The global conversation about COVID-19 and ongoing product improvements are driving up total monetizable DAU (mDAU), with quarter-to-date average total mDAU reaching approximately 164 million, up 23% from 134 million in Q1 2019 and up 8% from 152 million in Q4 2019.
  • We’ve also seen a 45% increase in our curated events page usage and a 30% increase in Direct Message (DM) usage since March 6.

While many of our teams are transitioning to working from home, some of our infrastructure teams have physical responsibilities that are critical to keeping our data centers, and Twitter, up and running. These teams are operating under the “essential services” provisions dedicated in City, County, and State orders to ensure business continuity. We couldn’t keep the Tweets flowing without their daily dedication and hard work.

The combination of the new work environment and the increased load on our platform has placed unique stresses on our operations, requiring our engineering teams to work more closely together than ever to respond to new demands, and to plan for the future. From our IT, Network, and Product Engineering teams to our Infrastructure and Data Center teams, we have collectively mobilized to ensure we are able to stay safe and productive under the stress of the new levels of traffic we’re seeing on our service.

The effects of COVID-19 on Twitter have already surpassed any event we’ve seen, and it’s possible that as the pandemic continues, we will see additional stress on our service. Beyond Twitter, COVID-19 has also had a far-sweeping impact on our supply chain partners. Whereas normally we'd have months of lead time to add hardware capacity for expected growth, in this case, manufacturing delays in China have compromised the supply chain, resulting in delays in deliveries to our data centers. Our Data Center, SiteOps, Supply Chain, Hardware Engineering, and Mission Critical teams continue to manage the physical infrastructure that underlies the service — expertly innovating to unlock additional capacity in existing supply.

Our teams are actively addressing areas where we need to add capacity to critical services, looking at how we can optimize existing technology to perform better, and planning for how we might adjust to the way people are using Twitter during this time.

It’s critical for Twitter to stay up and running through this global crisis. Our teams are focused, and as we make changes to our systems to meet these new demands, we will communicate openly. We will share what we’ve done, what we’ve learned, and if we see incidents, what we will do to recover as quickly as possible. Follow @TwitterEng to stay up to date.

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March 16, 2020
How we're working differently, and what it means for you

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6. Keeping our employees and partners safe

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May 12, 2020

#LoveWhereverYouWork

Twitter was one of the first companies to go to a work from home model in the face of COVID-19, but we don’t anticipate being one of the first to return to offices. 

We were uniquely positioned to respond quickly and allow folks to work from home given our emphasis on decentralization and supporting a distributed workforce capable of working from anywhere. The past few months have proven we can make that work. So if our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happen. If not, our offices will be their warm and welcoming selves, with some additional precautions, when we feel it’s safe to return. 

Here’s how we’re thinking about the next few months:

  • Opening offices will be our decision, when and if our employees come back, will be theirs. 
  • With very few exceptions, offices won’t open before September. When we do decide to open offices, it also won’t be a snap back to the way it was before. It will be careful, intentional, office by office and gradual. 
  • There will also be no business travel before September, with very few exceptions, and no in-person company events for the rest of 2020. We will assess 2021 events later this year.

We’re proud of the early action we took to protect the health of our employees and our communities. That will remain our top priority as we work through the unknowns of the coming months.

#LoveWhereverYouWork

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March 11, 2020

Mandatory work from home and supporting our employees

Our top priority remains the health and safety of our Tweeps, and we also have a responsibility to support our communities, those who are vulnerable, and the healthcare providers who are on the front lines of this pandemic. To continue this push, we are moving beyond our earlier guidance of “strongly encouraging work from home” provided on March 2 and have now informed all employees globally they must work from home.

We understand this is an unprecedented step, but these are unprecedented times. And we will continue to do all that we can to support our Tweeps, including:

Paying our contractors, vendors and hourly workers

For contractors and hourly workers who are not able to perform their responsibilities from home, Twitter will continue to pay their labor costs to cover standard working hours while Twitter’s work-from-home guidance and/or travel restrictions related to their assigned office are in effect.

Additional resources to support parents

As part of our ongoing global benefits support, Twitter is stepping in to ease additional expenses parents may be experiencing when their normal daycare closes due to COVID-19 by providing reimbursement for the additional daycare expenses incurred.

Helping Tweeps set up their at-home offices

All employees, including hourly workers, will receive reimbursement toward their home office set up expenses, and we are working with our vendors to ensure our contractors' work-from-home needs are met as well. We listened to employee feedback and expanded our policy to include home office equipment, such as desks, desk chairs, and ergonomic chair cushions. We’re also allowing Tweeps to expense online fees while working from home.

#FlockTalk

Last year, we introduced #FlockTalk, a program activated when Tweeps want to come together during difficult times to share what’s going on with them, find community, and be heard by our leaders. News around COVID-19 is impacting people in a number of different ways — from schools and offices being closed, to serious health concerns, to racism toward communities, we’re all dealing with a lot. The Twitter Inclusion & Diversity team (@TwitterTogether), in partnership with @TwitterAsians, will host a virtual #FlockTalk that acknowledges there’s a direct correlation between conversations between us, the health of our workplace, and the health of our service.

Resource guides to make the work-from-home transition easier

Working from home can be a challenging transition, so we’ve provided a variety of resource guides to help our employees continue to get the job done. We’re listing them here as well because at times like this, sharing insights and learning is so important. We’re all in this together and we want to help others outside of Twitter make their transitions to working outside of their offices easier.

  • Working-from-home best practices: We have shared the factors to consider to make sure Tweeps are ready to be productive and healthy. Some factors include workspace, communication, self-care, and logging hours. Overall, working from home doesn’t change your day-to-day work, it just means you’ll be doing it from a different environment.
  • Managing a distributed team: Being a people manager means providing a consistent and positive employee experience for everyone on your team, regardless of location. This manager resource guide highlights the three key pillars of management: strategy, growth and care. So what changes when your team is fully distributed? The good news — not much! These pillars still apply whether you manage a distributed or co-located team.
  • Virtual interview guide: All interviews at Twitter will be done via video conferencing. A completely virtual interview has its benefits. It is ideal for introducing candidates to remote work cultures, and it is a great opportunity for candidates who will work remotely to get a sense for the experience of interacting with other team members remotely. While this virtual interview guide is not a holistic interview guide, it instead focuses on the aspects of interviewing candidates remotely that differ from interviewing candidates in-person.
  • We have also shared guides for working across time zones, using collaboration tools to stay connected, and ergonomic tips for working from home and on-the-go.

We’ll continue sharing information as we navigate these changes. It’s all in dedication to keeping our Tweeps and everyone around us healthy. We’re all in this together!

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March 2, 2020
Encouraging employees to work from home

In addition to the travel, event, and visitor restrictions that we previously shared, today we provided additional guidance as we look to protect the health and safety of our workforce. Beginning today, we are strongly encouraging all employees globally to work from home if they’re able. Our goal is to lower the probability of the spread of the COVID-19 for us — and the world around us. We are operating out of an abundance of caution and the utmost dedication to keeping our Tweeps healthy. 

We are working to make sure internal meetings, all hands, and other important tasks are optimized for remote participation. We recognize that working from home is not ideal for some job functions. For those employees who prefer or need to come into the offices, they will remain open for business. Our Real Estate & Workplace team is increasing deep-cleaning and sanitizing in all spaces, as well as more visual reminders for personal hygiene best practices and prepackaged, precomposed, and preplated food options.

Working from home will be mandatory for employees based in our Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea offices due in part to government restrictions. Our criteria will evolve over time as we get more information, and we will communicate to affected Tweeps as appropriate.

While this is a big change for us, we have already been moving toward a more distributed workforce that’s increasingly remote. We're a global service and we’re committed to enabling anyone, anywhere, to work at Twitter.

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March 1, 2020
Suspending noncritical business travel and events

We recently shared information about the work we’re doing to surface the right information to promote constructive engagement and to highlight credible information around the spread of #coronavirus COVID-19. We will continue to update the public on these efforts this week.

We also have the responsibility of ensuring that the health and safety of our employees and partners is not compromised. We have continued to monitor the situation closely and are adjusting our internal policies to respond to this rapidly evolving situation. On February 29, we informed our people and started notifying partners that we are suspending all noncritical business travel and events. 

This policy is effective immediately and will continue until the World Health Organization or Centers for Disease Control deem it appropriate to step back from pandemic precautionary measures or when a vaccine becomes available. 

Our goal is to reduce the risk that anyone at Twitter might contract or inadvertently spread the virus. It is important that we take these proactive steps to protect ourselves and others and minimize the spread of COVID-19. 

There are enormous transnational efforts underway to tackle this virus. As a global company with a global workforce, we want to do what we can to help the success of these multistakeholder containment efforts. Temporarily suspending travel is an immediate and important step.

We want to thank our people, partners, and customers for their patience and understanding.

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7. Sharing Twitter’s metrics

*After further examining our data, we have made updates to our proactive enforcement metrics published on January 12, 2021 which were previously misinterpreted. The updated metrics are now reflected in the posts below.

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January 12, 2021

Updated proactive enforcement metrics

Since introducing our COVID-19 guidance, we have removed 8,493 Tweets and challenged 11.5 million accounts. We continue to prioritize removing or annotating potentially harmful and misleading information, to ensure that users receive credible information rather than misinformation.

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Oct 22, 2020

Updated proactive enforcement metrics

Since introducing our COVID-19 guidance  we have removed 6,466 Tweets and challenged 8 million accounts.

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July, 14, 2020

An update to our proactive enforcement and metrics on credible information

Since introducing our COVID-19 guidance we have removed 4,647 Tweets and challenged 4.5 million accounts. It is important to note our approach is not only about removing or annotating potentially harmful and misleading information, but also elevating credible information. To date, over 160 million people have visited the COVID-19 curated page, over two billion times.

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May 4, 2020

An update on our proactive enforcement and spam detection

Since introducing our updated policies on March 18, we have removed more than 4,074 Tweets containing misleading and potentially harmful content from Twitter. Additionally, our automated systems have challenged more than 3.4 million accounts which were targeting discussions around COVID-19 with spammy or manipulative behaviors. We will continue to use both technology and our teams to help us identify and stop spammy behavior and accounts.

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April 1, 2020
Our platform usage

In the past few weeks, we have seen more and more people turn to Twitter to participate in the public conversation and follow what’s happening in real time.

  • The global conversation about COVID-19 and ongoing product improvements are driving up total monetizable DAU (mDAU), with quarter-to-date average total mDAU reaching approximately 164 million, up 23% from 134 million in Q1 2019 and up 8% from 152 million in Q4 2019.
  • We’ve also seen a 45% increase in our curated events page usage and a 30% increase in Direct Message (DM) usage since March 6.

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April 1, 2020
Quantifying our efforts to reduce misleading and potentially harmful content

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