Many publishers are familiar with the problem of tweets being spread widely on Twitter, only for the article they contain to go unread.

Twitter users eager to show their agreement – or disagreement – with the headline and brief description included in the tweet will hit the retweet button and share their thoughts. But all too often, the article isn't read and fully understood.

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Seeing how this can cause the spread of misinformation, Twitter is now experimenting with a new feature where users are encouraged to read articles before they retweet them to their followers.

Limited to a test on the Android Twitter app for now, the system works by noting whether you have opened the article included in a tweet you want to retweet. If you haven't, Twitter will ask if you'd like to open the article before the retweet is published.

Announced by Twitter's support account late on Wednesday, the company said: "Sharing an article can spark conversation so you may want to read it before you tweet it. To help promote informed discussion, we're testing a new prompt on Android – when you retweet an article that you haven't opened on Twitter, we may ask if you'd like to open it first."

With the coronavirus pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement ongoing, the 2020 US presidential election just around the corner, it should't be surprising to see Twitter trying to reign in the spread of potential misinformation.