Twitter announced a policy that would flag a tweet from President Trump or Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden if either were to claim victory prematurely in the November election.
The social media platform announced a slew of guidelines on tweets about elections or other civic processes on Thursday that will go into effect later in September, according to a Twitter blog post. They will start labeling or removing “false or misleading information intended to undermine public confidence.”
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In addition to banning tweets that prematurely declare a winner of the election, Twitter users could have tweets labeled or removed if they cause “confusion about the laws and regulations of a civic process” and if they make “disputed” claims “that could undermine faith in the process,” such as election rigging, ballot tampering, and voter fraud.
A Twitter spokesperson told Politico that the policy will be implemented uniformly to both ordinary users and those holding elected office.
Trump has had multiple tweets labeled by the platform in instances where he violated the platform’s rules. In many of those cases, the president was discussing the upcoming election. Trump, on Twitter, has repeatedly argued that mail-in voting is not safe and could lead to widespread voter fraud, which would likely violate the platform’s soon-to-be implemented guidelines.
The president has, at times, said he wouldn’t necessarily accept the results of the November election.
“I have to see,” the president told Fox News’s Chris Wallace during a July interview. “Look, you — I have to see. No, I’m not going to just say yes. I’m not going to say no, and I didn’t last time, either.”
Despite the president’s comments to the contrary, both his campaign and the White House have said that he would accept the results of the election.
