Twitter flags Trump's tweets encouraging people to vote twice for 'violating our Civic Integrity Policy'

• Twitter on Thursday flagged two of President Donald Trump's tweets for violating its Civic Integrity Policy by "encouraging people to potentially vote twice" in the November election.
• "On Election Day, or Early voting ... go to your Polling Place to see whether or not your Mail In Vote has been Tabulated (Counted)," Trump wrote in one of the tweets that was flagged.
• "If it has you will not be able to Vote & the Mail In System worked properly," he continued. "If it has not been Counted, VOTE (which is a citizen's right to do)."
• "To protect people on Twitter, we err on the side of limiting the circulation of Tweets which advise people to take actions which could be illegal in the context of voting or result in the invalidation of their votes," Twitter said in a statement.
• On Wednesday, the president similarly urged people in North Carolina to vote twice in the general election (which is illegal): once by mail and once in person, to test the integrity of the system.

Twitter on Thursday flagged two of President Donald Trump's tweets encouraging voters to cast two ballots in the November general election, which is illegal.

In a thread that consisted of three tweets, Trump wrote, "Based on the massive number of Unsolicited & Solicited Ballots that will be sent to potential Voters for the upcoming 2020 Election, & in order for you to MAKE SURE YOUR VOTE COUNTS & IS COUNTED, SIGN & MAIL IN your Ballot as EARLY as possible. On Election Day, or Early voting ... go to your Polling Place to see whether or not your Mail In Vote has been Tabulated (Counted)."

The thread continued: "If it has you will not be able to Vote & the Mail In System worked properly. If it has not been Counted, VOTE (which is a citizen's right to do). If your Mail In Ballot arrives ... after you Vote, which it should not, that Ballot will not be used or counted in that your vote has already been cast & tabulated. YOU ARE NOW ASSURED THAT YOUR PRECIOUS VOTE HAS BEEN COUNTED, it hasn't been 'lost, thrown out, or in any way destroyed'. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!"

Twitter added notices to the second and third tweets in the thread saying they "violated the Twitter rules about civic and election integrity." The company did not remove the tweets because it determined that it "may be in the public's interest" for them to remain accessible.

The social media giant also announced the decision in a separate tweet, saying it flagged the president's statements for potentially encouraging people to vote twice in the election.

—Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 3, 2020

"The laws regarding the invalidation of mail-in ballots when individuals choose to vote in person are complex, and vary significantly by state," Twitter said in a statement. "Our goal is to prevent people from sharing advice about voting twice, which may be illegal."

"To protect people on Twitter, we err on the side of limiting the circulation of Tweets which advise people to take actions which could be illegal in the context of voting or result in the invalidation of their votes," the statement continued. "Per our policies, this Tweet will remain on the service given its relevance to ongoing public conversation. Engagements with the Tweet will be limited. People will be able to Quote Tweet, but not Like, Reply, or Retweet it."

On Wednesday, the president similarly urged people in North Carolina to vote twice in the general election: once by mail and once in person, to test the integrity of the system.

"So let them send it in and let them go vote, and if their system's as good as they say it is, then obviously they won't be able to vote," Trump told reporters when asked whether he was confident in North Carolina's mail-in voting system. "If it's as good as they say it is, then obviously they won't be able to vote. If it isn't tabulated, they'll be able to vote. So that's the way it is. And that's what they should do."