Twitter on Wednesday labeled five of President Donald Trump'stweets as "disputed" and potentially "misleading."- The tweets generally questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election, mentioning Michigan's vote count and "ballot dumps."
- Twitter announced before the election that it would crack down on election misinformation, and the president's tweets have been no exception.
Twitter on Wednesday labeled five of President Donald Trump's tweets as "disputed" and possibly "misleading" as part of the platform's effort to prevent election misinformation.
Starting at 12:49 a.m. on Wednesday, Trump fired off a series of tweets that disputed Michigan's results, alleged that people were trying to steal the election and working to make Trump's lead in Pennsylvania "disappear," and questioned the legitimacy of "surprise ballot dumps."
Twitter attached labels to the tweets saying 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 platform also blocked retweeting, allowing users only to quote-tweet, which encourages users to add their own commentary before sharing the tweet with their followers.
Twitter blocked the text of the tweets from showing up in users' feeds, requiring them to click through to view the tweets.
Twitter also alerted users to voting information explaining that a winner had not been declared and that some states would count mail-in ballots that arrive later than Election Day.
In October, Twitter announced a "civic integrity policy" amid fears of election interference. Since the announcement, Trump has repeatedly posted tweets questioning the legitimacy of the election — and Twitter has taken notice.
Early Wednesday, Trump tweeted:
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
Trump said on Wednesday that he wanted vote counting to stop as states were still tabulating results, The Associated Press reported.
Trump's objection likely comes from rules in states like North Carolina that allow officials to count absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive later.
It is standard practice to continue counting votes after Election Day.
Later Wednesday morning, he retweeted two posts about Michigan's vote tallies:
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
The original tweet — which has since been deleted — indicated that Joe Biden had received more than 128,000 votes in an updated tally in Michigan but that Trump had received no additional votes.
The person who posted the original tweet later said the statistics were the result of a typo.
Trump subsequently retweeted a post saying that the Michigan results were "reason enough to go to court" and that "no honest person can look at this and say it's normal and unconcerning."
Later that morning, Trump tweeted:
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
A candidate's lead can vary widely over election night as different precincts report totals, and an influx of mail-in ballots this year led to many delayed results.
Mail-in ballots could favor Biden, as Trump has discouraged his supporters from voting by mail. In a Pew survey conducted in late September and early October, 51% of Biden supporters said they had plans to vote by mail, while only 25% of Trump supporters said they did.
At about noon on Wednesday, Trump tweeted:
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
In key battleground states like Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, an influx of mail-in ballots has delayed results. On Wednesday morning, about 1.4 million absentee ballots hadn't been counted in Pennsylvania, The New York Times reported.
Trump has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the election and especially mail-in ballots. Trump has called voting by mail "substantially fraudulent," despite widespread evidence that voter fraud is rare.
In addition to flagging tweets as possibly misleading, Twitter has said it will label tweets that prematurely declare a winner and remove those "meant to incite interference with the election process."