Twitter and Facebook label Trump tweet on absentee ballot ruling as misleading
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Twitter and Facebook on Monday added labels to posts from President Trump that baselessly claimed a state Supreme Court ruling on absentee ballots in Pennsylvania will "allow rampant and unchecked cheating" and "induce violence in the streets."
Why it matters: Twitter has taken a more direct stance in labeling political tweets as misinformation than some counterparts, like Facebook, ahead of the 2020 election.
- The site earlier this month announced a slate of significant changes to its policies surrounding disinformation about the election.
Driving the news: The Supreme Court last week denied a bid from Pennsylvania Republicans to expedite their request to shorten the deadline for receiving mail-in ballots.
Of note: It's not the first time the tech giants have labeled one of the president's tweets.
- The site last week labeled a post by Trump, in which he baselessly claimed "Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In Ballots." It also labeled another post earlier last month that baselessly claimed COVID-19 is less deadly "in most populations" than the flu.
What he's saying: The president tweeted and posted on Facebook "The Supreme Court decision on voting in Pennsylvania is a VERY dangerous one. It will allow rampant and unchecked cheating and will undermine our entire systems of laws. It will also induce violence in the streets. Something must be done!"
What they did: Twitter added a label to the tweet which reads, "Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process."
- Facebook's label reads "Both voting by mail and voting in person have a long history of trustworthiness in the US. Voter fraud is extremely rare across voting methods."
For the record: Twitter restricted users from retweeting or interacting with the post. The same post has been shared thousands of times by users on Facebook, which did not restrict engagements.
