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Twitter for the first time ever fact-checked one of President Donald Trump’s tweets.
The social platform’s decision Tuesday resulted from an expansion of new policies aimed at curbing the spread of misinformation across the site, which began in February. While the company originally focused its content moderation on synthetic and manipulated media, three months into its new program it moved to also label “potentially harmful, misleading” information about the coronavirus, which has killed 100,000 Americans in less than four months.
But it wasn’t a presidential tweet about COVID-19 that Twitter labeled as misleading.
Instead, tweets by Trump alleging that mail-in ballot voting in the upcoming presidential election will be “substantially fraudulent” were among the first the company labeled as misleading under its new policy, which includes the provision of more information for users who click on the label. In this case, here’s the context Twitter gave on Trump’s tweets:
- “Trump falsely claimed that mail-in ballots would lead to ‘a Rigged Election.’ However, fact-checkers say there is no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud.”
- “Trump falsely claimed that California will send mail-in ballots to “anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there.” In fact, only registered voters will receive ballots.”
- “Five states already vote entirely by mail and all states offer some form of mail-in absentee voting, according to NBC News.”
Trump then countered that Twitter’s move amounted to election interference: “Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!”
Going further the following day, Trump said the entire Republican Party felt that “Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices. We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen.”
Twitter as well as Facebook then declined to respond to Trump’s tweets, according to CNN.
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