Daily US Times: For the first time, a post by US President Donald Trump has been given a fact-check label.
The president tweeted: “There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent.”
Under its new policy on misleading information, Twitter put a warning label under the post and a subsequent tweet.
Mr Trump responded by tweeting again, saying the social media giant “is completely stifling free speech”.
A notification from Twiter displays a blue exclamation mark underneath the tweets, suggesting readers “get the facts about mail-in ballots”.
What is Twitter saying about Trump’s posts?
Clicking the link given under the tweets, users can visit a page n which Mr Trump’s claims about mail-in ballots are described as “unsubstantiated”. The social media company cites reporting on the issue by the Washington Post, CNN and others.
This is followed by a “what you need to know” section where Twitter corrects what it says are false claims by the US president.
Twitter had pledged to increase the warning labels under misleading or false information on its site – but it has been slow to take steps against the US president.
Earlier this month, Twitter updated its policies on warning labels.
What is President Trump’s response?
Mr Trump responded Twitter’s action, accused the social media giant of interfering in the US presidential election scheduled for 3 November 2020.
He said that the social media company was “completely stifling free speech, and I, as president, will not allow it to happen”.
Brad Parscale, Mr Trump’s presidential campaign manager, also criticised Twitter.
He tweeted: “Partnering with biased fake news ‘fact checkers’ is a smoke screen to lend Twitter’s obvious political tactics false credibility. There are many reasons we pulled all our advertising from Twitter months ago, and clear political bias is one of them.”
Tweeting is the most common habit of President Trump. He used the platform to pick fights with other celebrities and politicians. Now he may be in for a fight with the platform itself.
Following the firm’s decision to label his tweets as misleading, he claimed on Twitter that the company was stifling free speech and that he wouldn’t allow it. But as a private company, Twitter gets to set its own rules for what happens on its platform.
This is not the first time President Trump has made claims on Twitter that some say would have gotten less powerful people blocked from the site.
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