Published 07:31 IST, May 27th 2020
Trump accuses Twitter of 'stifling free speech' after tweet is flagged for misinformation
Trump on Tuesday accused Twitter of flagging his tweet and went on to state that the social networking firm is 'interfering' with the US Presidential elections
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Twitter of flagging his tweet and went on to state that the social networking firm is 'interfering' with the US Presidential elections. Trump went on to threaten that as President, he will 'not allow' the 'stifling of free speech'.
Trump responds to Twitter's decision to flag his tweets
Trump's rant took place hours after Twitter flagged his earlier tweet, wherein he stated that Mail-in ballots will lead to voting fraud stating that these mailboxes will be 'robbed', will be 'forged and even illegally printed out'. In a subsequent tweet, Trump said that it will lead to the election being rigged.
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. "We always knew that Silicon Valley would pull out all the stops to obstruct and interfere with President Trump getting his message through to voters. Partnering with the biased fake news media ‘fact-checkers’ is only a smokescreen Twitter is using to try to lend their obvious political tactics some false credibility. There are many reasons the Trump campaign pulled all our advertising from Twitter months ago, and their clear political bias is one of them," the statement read.
Below the President's tweet, Twitter applied a warning sign with a link to the facts about the topic, which, then clarifies the claims.
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. In October, the social media firm had announced that it had banned all political advertising globally, stating that the reach of such messages "should be earned, not bought". "While internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics," company CEO Jack Dorsey had tweeted at the time of the announcement.
Tuesday's move comes after years in which Twitter has declined to apply its community guidelines and other rules of the road to the 45th U.S. president. It’s too soon to tell whether this action represents a turning point for Twitter in its treatment of Trump. But the warning labels suggest that the president has finally crossed a line that the company was not willing to move for him.
Twitter had decided to flag tweets and add links to fact-checked information earlier this year. In another update in May, a statement by twitter read, "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."
Updated 07:31 IST, May 27th 2020