+

Cookies on the Business Insider India website

Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.

Close
HomeQuizzoneWhatsappShare Flash Reads
 

TikTok is battling false voter-fraud allegations spread on the platform by conservative accounts

Nov 5, 2020, 03:38 IST
Insider
President Trump holds a Make America Great Again campaign rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on September 8, 2020.Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
  • As tech companies try to prevent the spread of misinformation after the election, false allegations of voter fraud spread on TikTok.
  • The platform removed several videos from two popular conservative TikTok accounts, Republican Hype House and The Republican Boys, for including misinformation.
  • A TikTok representative told Insider that the platform would continue to limit the spread of misinformation as part of its election-integrity guidelines.
Advertisement

As Facebook and Twitter flagged President Donald Trump's misleading messages about election results, that misinformation was picked up by other conservative voices online and amplified on TikTok.

Two pro-Trump TikTok pages, Republican Hype House and The Republican Boys — which together have more than 1 million followers — posted several misleading or inaccurate videos about election results. Many of their claims, including that Democrats would somehow steal the election, echoed Trump's messages.

TikTok removed the videos. A TikTok representative told Insider in a statement that the platform was working with fact-checking partners to "assess the accuracy of content" as part of its election-integrity guidelines.

"If claims cannot be verified or if fact-checking is inconclusive, we'll limit distribution of the content. If the content is confirmed to be false information, we will remove it," the representative said.

One video posted by Republican Hype House that was deleted soon after it was posted spread the false claim that Wisconsin had counted more votes than its number of registered voters.

Advertisement

As BuzzFeed News reported, that's false. Wisconsin had more than 3.6 million active registered voters as of Sunday, and 3.2 million votes had been counted as of Wednesday afternoon. The claim was popularized by a tweet from Mike Coudrey, a pro-Trump investor, that the platform removed for violating its rules prohibiting misinformation.

Meanwhile, the Republican Boys account spread the myth that Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, "magically" gained hundreds of thousands of votes in Wisconsin and Michigan. The account included a screenshot of a tweet from Benny Johnson of the pro-Trump group Turning Point USA that said: "There is zero explanation for this. What is happening? this is INSANE!"

But as The Daily Beast reported, "this was neither magic nor insane, but the results of those states counting legally cast ballots."

The Republican Boys later shared another video baselessly alleging voter fraud and acknowledging that the platform had already removed one of their videos. "Voter fraud is strong in this election," one of the young conservative men who post videos on the account said. TikTok removed the video in less than two hours.

As the election results remain undecided on Wednesday afternoon, tech companies will continue to face the hurdle of misinformation spread on their platforms in the coming days.

Advertisement
You are subscribed to notifications!
Looks like you've blocked notifications!
Next Article