Published 10:14 IST, May 28th 2020
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defends 'pointing out incorrect info' as Trump threatens action
A day after Twitter flagged Trump's tweets on 'mail-in ballots', Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has stated that they would 'continue to point out misinformation
- Tech
- 2 min read
A day after Twitter flagged US President Donald Trump's tweets regarding 'mail-in ballots', Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stated that the social networking site would 'continue to point out incorrect information' about elections globally. On Tuesday, Twitter flagged Donald Trump's tweets regarding mail-in ballots which is a topic of contention with the US presidential elections just a few months away. Twitter said the move will prevent the spread of misinformation.
Now, in a series of tweets, Jack Dorsey has justified the microblogging site's move saying that Trump's tweets on mail-in-ballots could mislead people into thinking that they did not need to register for a ballot which could cause chaos since only registered voters receive ballots. He has also taken full responsibility for this move saying that while Twitter was not an 'arbiter of truth', it's intention was to provide correct information alongside conflicting statements to let people be the ultimate judge.
President Trump had tweeted that Mail-in ballots will lead to voting fraud stating that these mailboxes will be robbed, and will be 'forged and even illegally printed out' In a subsequent tweet, Trump said that it will be a rigged election and ended yet another rant with 'No way!'
Trump accuses Twitter of 'interfering' with elections
Shortly after his tweets were flagged, US President Donald Trump lashed out at Twitter stating that the social networking firm is 'interfering' with the US Presidential elections. Trump went on to threaten that as the President, he will 'not allow' the 'stifling of free speech'. Trump's campaign team for the upcoming elections also released a statement explaining that Twitter was trying to stop the President's message go through to the voters.
In an update earlier in May, Twitter had announced, "During active conversations about disputed issues, it can be helpful to see the additional context from trusted sources. Earlier this year, we introduced a new label for Tweets containing synthetic and manipulated media." "Depending on the propensity for harm and type of misleading information, warnings may also be applied to a Tweet. These warnings will inform people that the information in the Tweet conflicts with public health experts’ guidance before they view it," the statement further read.
This is for the first time that Twitter has flagged the President's tweet for misinformation after updating its policy regarding the spread of fake news and misinformation.
Updated 10:14 IST, May 28th 2020