Twitter has explained why it will not ban Donald Trump’s latest controversial tweet – despite acknowledging that it’s breaking its rules.
The president’s post suggested that the postal vote was a “voter security disaster”, suggesting that it was not only allowed for election fraud, but also those who used it at risk because the mailboxes did not “covid sanitize” are. Mr. Trump provided no evidence for any of these claims.
The attacks on secure ballot papers are part of an attempt by the Trump campaign to block their use. It comes amid a rise in mail order requests so people can vote more safely during the coronavirus outbreak, which has garnered continued criticism from Mr Trump.
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Twitter has taken action against those earlier claims, and has done so with Mr Trump’s latest tweet. But remarkably, the post is still available for anyone to see, although it is hidden behind a disclaimer that users must agree to before they can actually see it.
Anyone who follows the tweet will see a message specifically indicating that the president’s post violated the rules of the social media site.
“This Tweet has violated Twitter rules on civic and electoral integrity,” it read. “However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”
Users can click on a button read “View” to see the full post.
Normally, users would not be able to see such a post at all because it would be banned as a view as part of the rules of Twitter. But the company has said several times that Mr. Trump’s messages are being held to a different standard than that by a normal user.
This time, it said the post would remain live because of its “relevance”, although noted that it would be limited in other ways.
“By our policy, this Tweet will remain on the service, given its relevance to ongoing public conversation,” it posted on its Twitter Support account. “Agreements with the Tweet will be limited. People will be able to retweet it with comments, but not like, reply or retweet.”
In a follow-up post, it shared a list of rules about voter repression and intimidation, which make clear what is prohibited on the platform. They include a restriction in parts of “misleading claims about procedural procedures or techniques that could mislead people into voting,” which is what Twitter said the president did, along with other prohibited messages, such as false claims that places are closed or closed or that there have been long lines.
However, Twitter’s public interest rules mean that the post stays on the site. They specifically deal with “tweets from elected officials and government officials”, and Twitter says they are in place because “sometimes it may be in the public interest for people to view tweets that are otherwise taken down”.
Not all tweets from public officials will be covered by the note, Twitter says, and some tweets may be taken down immediately. This is more likely to happen if the post “includes an explanatory call to action that could harm a specific individual as a group”, or if it “shares information or engages in behavior that may directly interfere with an individual’s exercise of its fundamental rights “.
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