Explained: Why was BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya’s tweet labelled and what is Twitter's ‘manipulated’ media policy

(Source: Twitter/Amit Malviya)

BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya's tweet about farmers’ protest has been labelled ‘manipulated media’ by the microblogging site, evoking curiosity among its users. It was, perhaps, the first such incident where a tweet in India was flagged under this category by Twitter.

Malviya had on November 28 quote-tweeted an earlier Rahul Gandhi tweet, calling the Congress leader “the most discredited opposition leader India has seen in a long long time” and terming the photo of a farmer being lathi-charged as propaganda.

Twitter’s ‘synthetic and manipulated media’ policy, available on the site's Help Centre, involves labelling tweets and warning users of manipulated, deceptively altered or fabricated content. The policy says that the site may also consider removing the tweets containing the manipulated content, if they are likely to cause harm.

The policy, announced in February this year, discourages users to deceptively promote synthetic or manipulated media in the form of videos, audios and images.  Labels are put on the tweets containing such content, basically to help people understand the authenticity. The idea is to help users to circulate authentic information on the social media platform. Tweets containing content that the company feels are ‘deceptively shared’ and pose “serious harm” is to be removed, as per the policy.

Twitter takes a decision after accessing three aspects of the content shared in the tweet:

1)  Whether the content has been substantially edited in a manner that fundamentally alters its composition sequence, timing or framing.

2)  Any visual or audio content, such as video frames, overdubbed audio, or modified subtitles, that has been added or removed.

3) Whether the content depicting a real person have been fabricated or simulated

Tweets containing content which fits in one of the above three categories is deemed to be labelled ‘manipulated media’. The content that meets all three categories -- is synthetic or manipulated, is shared in a deceptive manner, and is likely to cause harm -- is to be removed.

The policy says that “in order to determine if media have been significantly and deceptively altered or fabricated, we may use our own technology or receive reports through partnerships with third parties.” No action will be taken if the company fails to determine that the content is altered or fabricated.

The site will also assess if the content shared could result in confusion or misunderstanding or suggests a deliberate intent to deceive people about the nature or origin. For this, the company will assess the text of the tweet accompanying or within media, the information on the profile of the account sharing media, and the websites linked in the tweet, or in the profile of the account sharing media.

Tweets that share manipulated media are subject to removal, if they are likely to cause serious harm. Acts of harm include threats to the physical safety of a person or group, risk of mass violence or widespread civil unrest, threats to the privacy or ability of a person or group to freely express themselves or participate in civic events, such as stalking or unwanted and obsessive attention, targeted content that includes tropes, epithets, or material that aims to silence someone and voter suppression or intimidation.

The policy says that Twitter will provide additional content in the tweets which it believes is altered and fabricated. The action includes applying a label to the content where it appears, displaying a warning to users before they share or like that content, reducing the visibility of the content and also providing a link to additional explanations or clarifications, such as in a Twitter Moment or landing page.

The policy was announced on February 5, 2020, and the site started labelling tweets from March 5. An initial draft of the policy was first announced in November last year. In November this year, an edited Twitter video of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, now President-Elect, seemingly addressing the wrong crowd at an event was labeled as "manipulated media" by Twitter, according to the website, the Hill.

The deceptively edited video was viewed 1 million times on Twitter.