Twitter names 7 outlets to call election results
- Sara Fischer, author of Axios Media Trends
Photo: Mehmet Kaman/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Twitter on Monday provided more details about its policies around tweets that declare election results, and it named the seven outlets it will lean on to help it determine whether a race is officially called.
Driving the news: The list includes ABC News, AP, CNN, CBS News, Decision Desk HQ, Fox News and NBC News — all outlets that experts agree have verified, unbiased decision desks calling elections.
Our thought bubble: Some conservatives have alleged that Twitter is biased against them. In the past few weeks, data from the Stanford Cable TV Analyzer shows that Fox News has discussed Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Big Tech censorship at length.
- Fox News' Decision Desk is considered very authoritative and is highly respected among media and politics insiders. By including Fox News' decision desk in this list, Twitter is saying that it believes its decision desk is verified and legitimate.
Details: Twitter previously said that it would require either an announcement from state election officials or a public projection from at least two authoritative, national news outlets that make independent calls about the race before letting tweets about the results go by unlabeled.
- If one of the seven outlets tweets from its main handle a result before another outlet from the group of seven confirm it, Twitter won't label that tweet.
- If a reporter or any Twitter user tweets a result without citing one of the select outlets for its decision, that tweet may be labeled.
- The Twitter will label will say, "Official sources may not have called the race when this tweeted. Find out more." That label will link to Twitter's curated elections information hub.
The big picture: Axios' Jonathan Swan reported on Sunday that President Trump has told confidants he'll declare victory on Tuesday night if it looks like he's "ahead" in the polls, even if the outcome is not yet determined.
- Tech platforms have introduced an array of rules and protocols around premature claims of victory on election night, given the unusual nature of this year's election.
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