Published 10:49 IST, November 3rd 2020
Twitter, Facebook flag Donald Trump's post questioning Supreme Court's voting decision
Twitter and Facebook flagged a post by US President Donald Trump in which he calls the Supreme Court’s decision on voting in Pennsylvania “very dangerous”.
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In the hours just before US Election 2020, Twitter and Facebook flagged a post by US President Donald Trump in which he calls Supreme Court’s decision on voting in Pennsylvania “very dangerous” and claims about potential violence. US Apex Court just last week had permitted to extend the deadlines for receiving mail-in ballots during November 3 in Pennsylvania and North Carolina states that can contribute to Trump’s re-election. This decision by the court let stand a ruling by Pennsylvania’s top court allowing mail-in ballots postmarked by Tuesday and received up to three days later to be counted.
However, this angered the Republican leader who has repeatedly questioned the integrity of mail-in ballots and recently indicated that he is readying his lawyers for November 3. Trump took to his social media accounts and baselessly claimed that the decision by Supreme Court is “very dangerous one” and that it will lead to “rampant and unchecked cheating and will undermine” US laws. He added, “It will also induce violence in the streets. Something must be done!”
But Twitter and Facebook quickly flagged the post on their respective platforms to prevent the spread of misinformation of baseless claims to spread like wildfire. While Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook attached a link about voting information and said the mail-in or in-person voting is safe in the US, Jack Dorsey’s Twitter said that Trump’s post shows “disputed content” and that it “might be misleading”. These actions by social media websites came in line with various measures taken to ensure the safety of US citizens and maintaining peace just hours before the election.
'We're going in with lawyers'
US President Donald Trump cast doubt on the integrity of the presidential elections and said that the vote-counting stretching past November 3 (local time) would be a “terrible thing” while indicating that his lawyers might get involved on the d-day. As over 256 million Americans are set to choose the next US President between Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden on Tuesday, the Republican leader campaigned in the battleground states seeking support just days before US Election 2020.
Even though the casting of more than 60 million mail-in ballots has reportedly been done, Trump said in North Carolina that “I don’t think it’s fair” that US citizens would have to wait for a longer period of time after the polls close considering that several states including Pennsylvania will not start processing the mail-in votes until the Election day, thus, delaying the result.
This comes in the backdrop of Trump repeatedly questioning the credibility of the mail-in votes and termed them as fraud despite the election experts reportedly saying that it is rare in US elections. Mail voting has been long involved in the American elections but this year, it is a more widely used method for early voting amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
But, Trump assured that “We're going in with our lawyers,” and left out any further explanation. Meanwhile, Democrats including Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris have been promoting the mail-in voting during the pandemic as Republicans are relying on big in-person voter turnout on November 3.
10:50 IST, November 3rd 2020