Twitter said Friday it will flag posts on its platform that prematurely claim victory in the U.S. presidential race and will remove ones meant to incite people to interfere in the election process.
Less than a month before Election Day, Twitter followed Google and Facebook in becoming the latest major internet company to put new rules in place in anticipation of possible confusion or chaos.
“People on Twitter, including candidates for office, may not claim an election win before it is authoritatively called,” Twitter’s Vijaya Gadde and Kayvon Beykpour explained in a blog post.
“To determine the results of an election in the U.S., we require either an announcement from state election officials, or a public projection from at least two authoritative, national news outlets that make independent election calls,” they wrote.
Tweets that include early claims about the results of any contests taking place next month will be labeled as premature and refer user to the company’s official page for the elections, they added.
Election Day is Nov. 3, although millions of Americans have already voted early by mail and many more are expected to do the same in the weeks before polls close.
Indeed, federal agencies have stated the increased use of mail-in ballots this year due to the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic will likely cause a delay in learning the results of the elections.
Bad actors may seek to exploit the extra time it takes to learn election results this fall to spread related misinformation online, the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned recently.
Google subsequently announced it will temporarily pause all ads referencing the 2020 election, the candidate or its outcome in the immediate aftermath of polls closing next month. More recently, Facebook similarly announced Wednesday this week it will temporarily stop running all political ads in the U.S. after polls to “reduce opportunities for confusion or abuse” on its social network.
In addition to flagging tweets making premature claims of victory, Twitter said it will take down those “meant to incite interference with the election process or with the implementation of election results,” such as those encouraging violence.
Twitter stressed that policy will cover the race between Republican incumbent President Trump and Democratic challenger Joseph R. Biden, as well as the scores of congressional races taking place across the U.S.
“Twitter plays a critical role around the globe by empowering democratic conversation, driving civic participation, facilitating meaningful political debate, and enabling people to hold those in power accountable,” wrote Ms. Gadde, Twitter’s legal, policy and trust and safety lead, and Mr. Beykpour, Twitter product lead and co-founder of the company’s sister service Periscope.
“But we know that this cannot be achieved unless the integrity of this critical dialogue on Twitter is protected from attempts — both foreign and domestic — to undermine it,” they added.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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