Tech

Twitter and Facebook flag Trump message claiming opponents are trying to steal the election

Key Points
  • Twitter has appended a warning over a tweet of President Donald Trump's claiming that votes can't be cast after polls are closed.
  • Twitter attached a label over the tweet, reading "Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process."

In this article

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the White House after returning from hospitalization at the Walter Reed Medical Center for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment, in Washington, October 5, 2020, in this still image from video posted on Trump's Twitter page.
@realDonaldTrump | via Reuters


Twitter has appended a warning over a tweet of President Donald Trump's claiming that the opposition is trying to steal the election.

"We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!" the president's tweet reads.

Twitter attached a label over the tweet, reading "Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process." It offered a link to "learn more" about its civic integrity policy.

President Trump also posted a tweet saying "I will be making a statement tonight. A big WIN!" which did not have a warning appended as of press time.

NBC News has not yet projected the presidential election results. A Twitter spokeswoman, asked whether this was within its policies around declaring premature victory, said "It's unclear what is being referenced by a big WIN!"

Facebook stopped short of blocking the messages, but added warning labels to both.

For Trump's post claiming the opposition was trying to steal the election, Facebook added a message saying "Final results may be different from initial vote counts, as ballot counting will continue for days or weeks."

For the other Trump post claiming a big win, the label said "Votes are being counted. The winner of the 2020 US Presidential Election has not been projected."

This is in line with what the company pledged to do in September.