President Trump posted to Twitter on the day before the election — and the Silicon Valley company promptly slapped a warning label on it.
In the tweet, Mr. Trump criticized a Supreme Court decision and warned of post-election violence — a warning borne out by businesses boarding up their establishment to protect themselves from riots.
“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!” he wrote.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2020
Not so fast, Twitter said.
The social-media giant, almost all of whose employee donations go to Democrats and which regularly censors conservative figures, put two warning labels on the tweet.
One label, appearing above the tweet on Chrome desktop version of the service, said that “Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.”
The social-media companies are opaque about what makes a political claim “disputed” or “misleading,” since disagreement is part of politics.
The second warning, shown below the text, invited readers to get what Twitter has determined is the truth: “Learn how voting by mail is safe and secure.”
Twitter users cannot share the tweet, to see what the president is saying on election eve, without making users click through and read Twitter’s warnings.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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