Twitter says its 'focus is on providing context, not fact-checking'

Twitter has recently come under significant criticism and is speaking out about its policies saying that its "focus is on providing context, not fact-checking."

"We are NOT attempting to address all misinformation," the company wrote in a lengthy Tuesday thread posted on its Twitter Safety account page. "Instead, we prioritize based on the highest potential for harm, focusing on manipulated media, civic integrity, and COVID-19. Likelihood, severity and type of potential harm — along with reach and scale — factor into this," Twitter explained. 

The social media platform so frequently utilized by President Trump to disseminate his message to the masses became the object of his ire after the company labeled some of his tweets about mail-in voting and linked to a page that disputed their accuracy.

The social media giant said that when it labels a post it links to a Twitter conversation that offers "Factual statements," "Counterpoint opinions & perspectives," and "Ongoing public conversation around the issue."

"We will only add descriptive text that is reflective of the existing public conversation to let people determine their own viewpoints," the company explained. "To date, we have applied these labels to thousands of Tweets around the world, primarily related to COVID-19 and manipulated media."

Twitter also recently flagged one of the president's tweets with a message notifying viewers that it "violated the Twitter rules about glorifying violence." People must click to read the tweet. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz also recently had one of his tweets slapped with the same label because the company said it violated its rules.