As the world nervously awaits the outcome of the US Presidential Election, social media platforms Twitter and Facebook have been forced to introduce emergency measures to stifle Donald Trump’s false claims.
On Wednesday, Twitter labelled five of Trump’s tweets as “disputed” and potentially “misleading”.
The tweets in questions included one that claimed: “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!” and “Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key States, in almost all instances Democrat run & controlled. Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted. VERY STRANGE, and the “pollsters” got it completely & historically wrong!”
As a further measure, Twitter also restricted the distribution of some of the Tweets, blocking it from being retweeted or replied to.
Twitter has also started adding labels to tweets from Trump’s son Eric Trump and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, which claim victory in Pennsylvania.
Facebook, meanwhile, has added labels to some of the President’s posts reminding users: “Final results may be different from the initial vote counts, as ballot counting will continue for days or weeks after polls close.”
With a final outcome still potentially days away, Facebook and Twitter remain in election mode, with all political ads now suspended indefinitely.
Google has also blocked all ads: “referencing candidates, the election, or its outcome, given that an unprecedented amount of votes will be counted after election day this year”.
YouTube has also said it is on high alert for election-related content and has added labels to all videos about results with a reminder that the election might not yet be over.
