Question

Twitter's app is now asking you to specify your ethnicity preferences.

Answer 1

There is no evidence to support the claim of “Twitter” (now known as X) asking for ethnicity preferences. Upon completing a Twitter (X) account you are asked what your preferences for content would be, and then recommended accounts to follow. Never are you asked about ethnic preferences or anything of the sorts. In fact, nowhere are you asked for any personal details besides your date of birth and an optional addition of your home city. I just freshly made an account and cross referenced the following instruction sheet as to how to make an account to verify the authenticity of this claim. 

https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/twitter/how-to-tweet/1/ 

Comments

I like your approach of creating a new Twitter account to test out the claim's accuracy. Nice work!

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I think it was great that instead of just looking up the claim, you tested it out for yourself by making a new account. Also great job on adding the link to your research.

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I appreciated how you addressed the misinformation surrounding Twitter and its account creation process. I liked how you talked about what they ask for when creating a Twitter account. I feel like that in itself debunks this false claim. It shows the actual steps, and it doesn't require new users to specify ethnicity preference.

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This fact-check may seem succinct, but I think it's excellent. You went directly to the source of the claim--the process of account creation on Twitter--and scrutinized the steps of doing so firsthand to check the claim. Dealing with primary sources is the best way to orchestrate fact-checks by far because the checker can see the truth for themselves and report on their findings without the untrustworthy "middlemen" of secondary sources. If I were to make any suggestion, I would ask for some insight regarding the Bluesky user responsible for the original post, such as if they have any affiliations that may inspire the spread of this kind of misinformation. Other than that, this is an exemplary fact-check!

Answer 2

Where did you first see this claim besides this Bluesky post? Were there any other sources or links that would provide any context as to where this idea came from? When researching information on this argument, no information was found reporting any new preference settings for Twitter that are focused on ethnicity. In 2022, a group of data analysts examined the racial demographics in media, focusing specifically on Twitter. In this article, it is stated that "There is no standard accepted approach or current guidelines for extracting or inferring the race or ethnicity of Twitter users," meaning that Twitter has never had guidelines or settings to set ethnicity preferences.  

Methods to Establish Race or Ethnicity of Twitter Users: Scoping Review   

Comments

This is a good response I feel like you asked the right questions for example, asking if there were a sources or links for further context to their claim. I looked at your source and it did talk about how there are no current official guidelines for determining or inferring the race or ethnicity of Twitter users.

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I liked your response because at the beginning of your answer, you asked questions to the user regarding where they got their information from that made their claim reliable. I also liked the source you used to back up your response regarding Twitter asking the user to specify their ethnicity preferences and after looking at the source you provided, I did see information regarding that as of right now there are no questions or guidelines regarding ethnicity or race of the users of the app, making your claim stronger and true

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Great response, you asked / answered  all the right questions. However, try using Twitter(X) as one of your sources. It would make your argument better because you did not find the information from the source (like the claim).

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I like that you not only fact-checked this claim but also asked an important question about the source to get a better understanding of where the claim is coming from. Addditionally, adding direct text from Twitters guidelines is the best way to prove this claim true or false

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I like how you began your claim by asking the original claim where they got their information from besides the unreliable blueksy post. You then transition into your own research that came from a credible source. The source that you used shows that there are no questions or guidelines regarding the ethnicity of the users of the app. Overall, your claim has good eveidential backup which strengthens your stance and weakens the original uncredible claim.