Twitter for the first time on Tuesday labelled two tweets from President Donald Trump making false statements about mail-in voting as “potentially misleading.”
It’s the first time the platform has fact-checked the president.
#BREAKING Twitter labels Trump tweet misleading for first time pic.twitter.com/mOnHBFYXlm— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 26, 2020
Reacting to the Twitter fact-checking his tweet, Trump said Twitter is interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election and completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!
.@Twitter is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election. They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post....— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
....Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
A report by RT indicated that tagged tweets by US President Donald Trump with a link to their ‘fact check,’ based on a collection of mainstream media reporting on the subject of mail-in ballots and voter fraud in the US.I hope all Republican House Members vote NO on FISA until such time as our Country is able to determine how and why the greatest political, criminal, and subversive scandal in USA history took place!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
Trump had posted two tweets on Tuesday morning claiming that there is “NO WAY (ZERO!)” that mail-in ballots “will be anything less than substantially fraudulent,” denouncing the drive by Democrats to expand voting by mail in November.
Twitter reacted later in the day by tagging both with a “Get the facts about mail-in ballots”link, leading to a collection of mainstream media articles denouncing the president’s claim as false.
The label was imposed on two tweets Trump posted Tuesday morning falsely claiming that “mail-in ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent” and would result in “a rigged election.” The tweets focused primarily on California’s efforts to expand mail-in voting due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. On Sunday, the Republican National Committee sued California Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state’s moves to expand mail-in voting.
According to a Twitter spokesperson, the tweets “contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labeled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots.” When a user sees the tweets from Trump, a link from Twitter is attached to them that says “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.” The link leads to a collection of tweets and news articles debunking the president’s statements.
There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone.....— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
A Twitter spokesperson said the move is in line with a new policy introduced earlier this month aimed at limiting “the spread of potentially harmful and misleading content” related to the pandemic. T
hat same policy did not apply to tweets from the president earlier this month falsely claiming that hydroxychloroquine has been proven to effectively treat COVID-19, according to a report from The Verge last week.
Brad Parscale, Trump campaign manager, responded to Twitter’s decision in a statement. “Partnering with the biased fake news media ‘fact checkers’ is only a smoke screen Twitter is using to try to lend their obvious political tactics some false credibility,” Parscale said.
Over the last few days, Trump has targeted Democratic-controlled states like California over their efforts to expand mail-in voting during the pandemic.
Brad Parscale, Trump campaign manager, responded to Twitter’s decision in a statement. “Partnering with the biased fake news media ‘fact checkers’ is only a smoke screen Twitter is using to try to lend their obvious political tactics some false credibility,” Parscale said.
Over the last few days, Trump has targeted Democratic-controlled states like California over their efforts to expand mail-in voting during the pandemic.
Last week, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from Michigan because the state’s secretary of state sent absentee ballot applications to all registered voters.
“I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path,” Trump tweeted at the time.
So far, the two most recent tweets about California are the only ones to receive this label.
So far, the two most recent tweets about California are the only ones to receive this label.
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