Twitter has announced that labels for automated accounts (Twitter vbots) are already being rolled out. The first initiative of this kind took place in September, when Twitter users were able to see examples of automated accounts. You could see the announcements of the disaster warnings and you could find the vaccine appointments, for example.
You will be more informed and able to choose how to connect with these accounts if they inform you that they are automated. You’ll also have a better understanding of their purpose, which could lead to safer Twitter account usage.
In the test that was made in September, many developers were invited to put a Twitter label on their accounts. All the accounts that have a label will appear as “Automated,” and this label will be visible on profile pages and tweets that come from these pages. By the end of 2021, all the developers were invited to put these labels on the automated accounts.
After the initiative was made in September 2021, most of the developers applied the instructions and they put the labels on the bot accounts. This proved to be a huge success, and we can see now which accounts are not run manually but automatically. These accounts are run on their own and these can serve as a starting point for labeling.
Now, we can see the Twitter label on the account’s profile as well as under the account’s name in the feed. According to Twitter spokesperson Celeste Carswell, developers who use Twitter API will be able to create automated accounts that are visibly labeled as automated. At the same time, all other account owners will need to opt in if they want to have a label that can be applied to their account. In this manner, most of the users will have to clearly label the accounts in order to use the bot accounts.
Some time passed since September 2021, when Twitter made this initiative for labeling Twitter bots. During this time, the developers have created a solid ground for the labeling solutions. They have applied some of the actions and they labeled the automated accounts. As a result, we can see the accounts that show the weather conditions, or we can spot the account on Twitter that reminds us of the day in the year. You can see these accounts are automated and the labels are clearly presented.
Carswell said that some bad actions can happen with the bots, but the regulations of Twitter can suspend these accounts in real-time. There might be manipulations with the accounts and some of them might offer false statements. However, each account can be reported to Twitter officials, and this should be a practice in the future. Twitter’s rules and policy regulations are very strict and these can serve as an example of online protection. If any automated account turns out to be dangerous and malicious, the system will recognize it. The users can report it or the Twitter system will automatically remove it from the platform.
Among other activities, Twitter is also working on a label to memorialize people who have died. By this time, the plans have not been turned into actions, but Twitter has a lot of willingness to make this possible. This label is not available yet, and Twitter refused to comment about it.
One thing is sure. We will be able to see many automated accounts that are labeled properly. As a result, we can decide whether to interact with them or not. This will offer a completely new solution for using Twitter and its possibilities in the future.