CHICAGO (DNA) — Twitter announced Monday it will start alerting users when a tweet makes disputed or misleading claims about the coronavirus.

The new rule is the latest in a wave of stricter policies that tech companies are rolling out to confront an outbreak of virus-related misinformation on their sites. Facebook and Google, which owns YouTube, have already put similar systems in place.

The announcement signals that Twitter is taking its role in amplifying misinformation more seriously. But how the platform enforces its new policy will be the real test, with company leaders already tamping down expectations.

Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of site integrity, acknowledged as much: “We will not be able to take enforcement action on every tweet with incomplete or disputed information about COVID-19.”

Roth said Monday the platform has historically applied a “lighter touch” when enforcing similar policies on misleading tweets but said the company is working to improve the technology around the labels.

In February, Twitter said it would add warning labels to doctored or manipulated photos and videos after a recording of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was slowed down to make it appear as though she slurred her words. But even with obviously fake videos, such as one showing Joe Biden lolling his tongue and grinning that was shared by President Donald Trump, the company has since used the label only twice, in part because of technical glitches.

And Twitter has not added any warning labels to politicians’ tweets that violate its policies but are deemed in the “public interest” under a policy the company announced in June 2019.

Under the newest COVID-19 rules, Twitter will decide which tweets are labeled — only taking down posts if they are harmful.

Politicians’ tweets will be subject to the notices, which will be available in roughly 40 languages.

Some of the questionable tweets will run with a label underneath that directs users to a link with additional information about COVID-19. Other tweets might be covered entirely by a warning label alerting users that “some or all of the content shared in this tweet conflict with guidance from public health experts regarding COVID-19.”

Twitter won’t directly fact check or call tweets false on the site, said Nick Pickles, the company’s global senior strategist for public policy. The warning labels might send users to curated tweets, public health websites or news articles.

“People don’t want us to play the role of deciding for them what’s true and what’s not true but they do want people to play a much stronger role providing context,” Pickles said.

The notices, which could start appearing as soon as today, could also apply retroactively to past tweets.

The fine line is similar to one taken by tech rival Facebook, which has said it doesn’t want to be an “arbiter of the truth” but has arranged for third-party fact checkers to review falsehoods on its site. The Associated Press is part of Facebook’s fact-checking program.

One example of a disputed tweet that might be labeled on its site includes claims about the origin of COVID-19, which remains unknown. Conspiracy theories about how the virus started and if it is man-made have swirled around social media for months.

Twitter will continue to take down COVID-19 tweets that pose a threat to the safety of a person or group, along with attempts to incite mass violence or widespread civil unrest. The company has been removing bogus coronavirus cures and claims that social distancing or face masks do not curb the virus’ spread for several weeks. 

SAN FRANCISCO (DNA) – Facebook has agreed to pay $52 million to its content moderators whose job has them viewing graphic and disturbing posts and videos on its platforms.

In a 2018 lawsuit, third-party contractors for the company said that Facebook failed to properly protect them against severe psychological and other injuries that can result from repeated exposure to graphic material such as child sexual abuse, beheadings, terrorism, animal cruelty and other disturbing images.

The settlement grants U.S. moderators who were part of the class action lawsuit $1,000 each. Those who have been diagnosed with conditions related to their work will be able to get medical treatment and damages of up to $50,000, according to the preliminary settlement filed in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Mateo.

In a statement, Facebook said it is “grateful to the people who do this important work to make Facebook a safe environment for everyone. We’re committed to providing them additional support through this settlement and in the future.”

OTTAWA (DNA) – Canadian rocker Bryan Adams apologized Tuesday after a backlash and accusations of anti-Chinese racism over his online rant about the pandemic forcing the cancellation of his London shows this week.

The “Cuts Like a Knife” singer issued a statement offering “apologies to any and all that took offence to my posting yesterday,” adding: “I have love for all people.”

Adams had said in earlier expletive-laced Twitter and Instagram posts that his gigs at the Royal Albert Hall were nixed thanks to “bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards.”

He went on to say that “the whole world is now on hold, not to mention the thousands that have suffered or died from this virus,” admonishing the Chinese to “go vegan.”

While animal rights groups praised his call to stop eating meat, others interpreted the expletive-laced comments as anti-Chinese.

“This is so irresponsible and so racist,” Amy Go of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice told AFP.

“He’s a Canadian idol and he’s fanning the flames of anti-Chinese racism, and contributing to an increase in hateful taunts and blatant (physical) attacks on Chinese and Asian people in Canada and around the world,” she said.

Others called his remarks “racist garbage.”

Wet markets sell fresh food and produce, including farmed animals and wildlife.

One such market in Wuhan, China was identified last week by the World Health Organization as a possible source or “amplifying setting” of the outbreak.

In his apology, Adams explained: “No excuse, I just wanted to have a rant about the horrible animal cruelty in these wet markets being the possible source of the virus, and promote veganism.”

There has been anecdotal evidence of a rise of anti-Chinese rhetoric and violence linked to the pandemic.

Go cited, for example, the recent experience of a 92-year-old man thrown out of a Vancouver convenience store and onto the sidewalk by the shopkeeper because he was of Chinese descent.

A Chinese-Canadian woman was also punched in the face in an unprovoked attack last week while waiting at a downtown bus stop in the Pacific coast metropolis.

Adams has since deleted the offending tweet but the message remained on Instagram.

In it he also said he missed his band or “other family” while in self-isolation with his wife and children. 

LAHORE (Dna) – Pakistani actress among 300 passengers have been shifted to quarantine center after returning from United States amid coronavirus outbreak.

According to details, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has operated connecting flights to bring back Pakistanis stranded in Washington and Dhaka.

The passengers after landing in Pakistan were immediately sent to the quarantine center for 14 days.