US Elections: How Facebook and Twitter React to Trump’s Misinformation



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US President Donald Trump declared his election victory early Wednesday morning with the words “Frankly, we won this election” long before the vote was counted. Who actually won the 2020 presidential election campaign in the US may not be known for days or even weeks. But Facebook was prepared for exactly this scenario: at the beginning of October, the company had already shown what the information it would display on Instagram and Facebook would look like in such a case.

This was the case on Wednesday morning German time. “As soon as President Trump began spreading premature claims about his victory, we warned on Facebook and Instagram that the votes were still being counted and a winner had not yet been predicted.” Facebook shared. “We also automatically add references to relevant publications from both candidates.”

On Facebook it was the first under Trump’s short message “I am going to make a statement tonight. A GREAT VICTORY!” to see. Facebook faded into the message “The votes are still being counted. The winner of the 2020 US presidential election has not yet been predicted.”

Under the Facebook video of Trump’s speech, in which he prematurely declared himself the winner of the election, he said: “The final results may be different from the first results, since the count can take days or weeks.”

Both posts can still be shared and commented on, which has already happened ten thousand times. In response to a request from SPIEGEL, the company confirmed that the range of contributions had not been restricted. Facebook sometimes takes this step with misleading or incorrect content to ensure that it is shown to fewer users.

Twitter makes it difficult to share Trump’s tweet

On the other hand, a literal post by Donald Trump can no longer be easily distributed on Twitter. If users want to share Trump’s tweet in which he talks of an attempt to “steal the election” without any evidence, a warning is initially displayed. One should help Twitter to remain a place to get reliable information, it says there.

Only after a total of four clicks can Trump’s tweet be shared, but only with a comment written by himself.

Twitter commented on its own approach shortly after Trump’s tweet. In a tweet, the company said Trump made “a potentially misleading statement about the election.” The company also referred to its own rules designed to protect the integrity of the elections.

According to company rules, posts in which candidates are declared winners before the official result is announced may receive a corresponding warning or be removed entirely. Twitter is implementing exactly what it updated in October. Regulations for dealing with elections Announced.

On YouTube, however, there is so far no indication below the video on Trump’s official channel that the president is making false claims about the election result.

Icon: The mirror



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