Twitter seeks public input in Hindi and other languages on fake photos and videos

Twitter is seeking public input on a new policy that the social network is developing about photos and videos that have been altered or fabricated.

Hindi is one among the 6 languages the inputs have been sought in as India remains one of the fastest growing markets globally. The other languages are English, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese.

Twitter said synthetic and manipulated media is any photo, audio, or video that has been significantly altered or fabricated in a way that intends to mislead people or changes its original meaning. These are sometimes referred to as deepfakes or shallowfakes.


“When you come to Twitter to see what’s happening in the world, we want you to have context about the content you’re seeing and engaging with. Deliberate attempts to mislead or confuse people through manipulated media undermine the integrity of the conversation,” Twitter said in a blogpost.

According to the draft policy, Twitter may place a notice next to Tweets that share synthetic or manipulated media if it sees such media that purposely tries to mislead or confuse people.

It may warn people before they share or like Tweets with synthetic or manipulated media or add a link – for example, to a news article or Twitter Moment – so that people can read more about why various sources believe the media is synthetic or manipulated.

In addition, if a Tweet including synthetic or manipulated media is misleading and could threaten someone's physical safety or lead to other serious harm, Twitter may remove it.

In the survey, Twitter asks users a few questions about misleading altered media, which are photos and videos that have been changed to deceive or confuse others.

For languages not represented in the survey, Twitter is working closely with local non-governmental organizations and policymakers to ensure their perspectives are represented. The opinions will be used to help define this policy.

It added that it’s critical to consider global perspectives, as well as make its content moderation decisions easier to understand.

The feedback period will close on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 11:59 p.m.