Twitter created a new midterms page Tuesday, and unfortunately, the resource already appears to have some significant issues.
The page, which was shared by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, features tweets broken down into “Top Commentary” and “Latest.” A separate tab on mobile devices features news stories and a further state-by-state breakdown of election-related content from users.
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... [W]hile many tweets featured on Twitter’s new midterms page come from the verified accounts of political candidates and journalists, there are also quite a few from known conspiracy theorists; users promoting disinformation about candidates; and accounts with few followers, no profile photos, and low tweet counts — all signs of bot or spam accounts.
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A spokesperson for Twitter told BuzzFeed News that the midterms elections portal was like many of the pages the company creates for events like basketball games and natural disasters. An algorithm curates tweets based on certain keywords, and any content associated with those keywords is populated on the page. The Twitter spokesperson did not specify what keywords were being used for its midterms elections page. In a follow-up call, a Twitter spokesperson clarified that the 'latest' tab's algorithm takes into consideration the accounts that a user follows as one of a number of signals in order to surface tweets. It is possible then, if a user follows a conspiratorial or automated feed, the algorithm could recommend similar conspiratorial or automated accounts. The page, the company noted, was designed less for Twitter power-users and more for newer users searching for useful news ahead of the election.
That's disconcerting given "power-users" would be more inclined to know the difference between trustworthy and propaganda accounts.
Read more and see examples of what disinformation BuzzFeed found: Twitter Just Launched A Midterms Page And It’s Already Surfacing Trolls And False, Hyperpartisan News (BuzzFeed News)