Twitter flagged several posts Kanye West shared on its social media service that falsely show the rap artist and fringe White House candidate outperforming both President Trump and Joseph R. Biden.
At least three Twitter posts made or shared by Mr. West on the platform Tuesday were subsequently flagged by the company as containing “manipulated media” in the form of fake election results.
Each of the posts Mr. West shared to his more than 30 million Twitter followers cited bogus election results falsely suggesting he has beaten the Republican and Democratic candidates in Kentucky.
The tweets shared by Mr. West all referenced election results attributed to Lex 18 News, an NBC affiliate based in Lexington, Kentucky, which has since rejected them as wrong and apologized.
“The results shown were not valid. They were simply part of a test. We regret the discovery of the cached web link and have removed the data from that page,” Lex 17 News said in a statement.
“It’s an automated thing that is posting election results on our website,” clarified Lex 18 reporter Nancy Cox. “Sorry viewers. Sorry Kanye.”
Mr. West, formerly a vocal supporter of Mr. Trump, formally launched his White House bid in July and has qualified to appear on the ballot in several states alongside the president and Mr. Biden.
Several known Republican operatives have assisted with getting Mr. West on the ballot.
The fake results Mr. West shared on Twitter, and which remain with the “manipulated media” tag, suggested he was beating Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden in Kentucky with “100% of precincts reporting.”
Election officials in Kentucky will not begin to calculate the results of the presidential race until it concludes Nov. 3, however.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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