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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday May 27 2020, @12:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the fact-checking dept.

Twitter adds label to Trump's misleading tweets about mail-in ballots:

Twitter said Tuesday that it added a label to President Donald Trump's tweets for containing "potentially misleading information about voting processes," a rare move that shows the social media company is taking a tougher stance against misinformation.

It's the first time that Twitter has displayed a label on Trump's tweets.

On Tuesday, Trump tweeted that "There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-in-Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent," a claim that has been debunked by fact-checkers and news organizations. He continues his remarks in another tweet, stating that it will be a "Rigged election."

A label appears under both tweets that states "Get the facts about mail-in ballots." Clicking on the warning notice directs users to a page that states that fact-checkers say there isn't any evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud. Trump also falsely states in the tweets that California will send mail-in ballots to "anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there" when only registered voters will receive ballots. States such as Oregon, Utah and Washington have long conducted elections by mail only, while states such as Nebraska allow any voter to request a ballot and vote by mail without having to provide a reason.

A Twitter spokeswoman said in a statement that the decision is in line with how the company approaches misinformation on its site, which includes adding warning notices and labels depending on the likelihood and severity of harm a tweet could cause.

Twitter's actions against Trump's tweets will also likely increase tensions between the company and conservative users, who allege that the social network suppresses their speech. Twitter has repeatedly denied those allegations. Earlier this month, Trump tweeted that the "Radical Left" is in control of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google and said his administration is working on a solution.

In two tweets, Trump accused Twitter of interfering in the 2020 US presidential election.

"Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!," he tweeted.

Also at BBC News, Ars Technica, MIT Technology Review


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Wednesday May 27 2020, @02:59PM (1 child)

    by looorg (578) on Wednesday May 27 2020, @02:59PM (#999675)

    The mail-in ballot system appears to work in a lot of states, and other countries, so if he "knows" that they are somehow the source of massive fraud then I guess it's time to put up or shut up? That said I doubt that will happen.

    One can really ask who the target of his tweets are. That media, and people that just hate him no matter what he does, are always going to be triggered no matter what he would tweet so there is really no pleasing that.

    I don't really care for his tweets but I wouldn't want to forbid him from doing so, it's seems mostly pointless and it's probably targeted pandering to his base -- like a lot of political speeches are no matter the platform.

    Example -- his previous statements of "last night in Sweden". Clearly not meant for people in Sweden but the people that went to his rally -- to show how fucked up things had become or that it wasn't like it used to be. Media- and political people in Sweden got super-triggered about it. But yes I do believe that he actually no matter what the outcome is here will "win" and the idiots just keep taking the bait over and over again. So you sort of have to admire him for that -- he knows how to rile up the masses of idiots.

    So is this a new feather that the Twitter-AI is going to put on all tweets or is it special just for the Donald? If it is just for him then he might actually have a point. If it's going to be for everyone then there is a gonna be a lot of tweets that will carry that tag since a lot of them are probably misleading about something.

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  • (Score: 2) by helel on Wednesday May 27 2020, @08:42PM

    by helel (2949) on Wednesday May 27 2020, @08:42PM (#999902)

    As I understand the situation Twitter has been putting these citations on misleading tweets for a while now. They've been doing it for at least a few weeks with regards to COVID-19 [reuters.com] and the primary complaint I've read about before now is that they weren't applying it to Trump or other politicians blatantly misleading Tweets.