Williams said Twitter is working on several things which will help give the network more credibility as an information source. For example, tweets will soon have an option that shows the location from where they’re coming.

“If a tweet is coming out of Iran on a mobile phone, there are still ways to fake that,” he said, but noted that a geographical location would screen out a lot of fakers.

The network is also working on a reputation system, based on ratings from other users.

“We are working on reputation systems … You may not know someone is trustworthy, but other people who are trustworthy trust them.”

One of the challenges, he said, is the balance between anonymity — anyone can create a twitter account — and reliability. He noted that anonymity was key to the Iranians posting images and news of the government crackdown.

“Anonymity was a key thing for the people there … How do you have anonymmity and trust … that is a key thing,” he said.