Twitter will slap warning labels on tweets that make premature claims about Election Day results.
‘The presidential election and other highly contested races’ will be prioritized, the company said on Monday.
Tweets are eligible for labeling if the account is US-based and has more than 100,000 followers or if it has significant engagement, say more than 25,000 likes or retweets.
It can also be labeled if the account making the unverified claim has a US 2020 candidate label, including presidential candidates and campaigns.
The company made the announcement Monday after reports President Donald Trump said he’d declare victory on election night if it looks like he was ahead.
With a record number of mail-in votes, experts predict it could be days, or even weeks, before a winner in the 2020 presidential election is officially declared.
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Tweets will be labeled for ‘sharing inaccurate information about the presidential race that contradicts official results and projections.’
Warning labels will state that the tweet ‘is sharing inaccurate information about the presidential race that contradicts official results and projections.’
They may also say a tweet is ‘sharing inaccurate results about the presidential race before state officials or other news sources have made official projections.’
Results will be considered official when they have been declared by a state election official or confirmed by two or more of the following outlets: ABC News, NBC News, Fox News, CBS News, CNN, the Associated Press and Decision Desk HQ.
Users attempting to retweet a labeled tweet will be directed to credible information before being allowed to share it.
Warning labels may indicate tweet is ‘sharing inaccurate results about the presidential race before state officials or other news sources have made official projections.’
In addition, retweets and likes will be turned off for misleading tweets from political accounts with more than 100,000 followers.
Twitter said tweets encouraging violence or intending to interfere with the voting process or with the implementation of election results will be subject to removal.
The Twitter Safety team says it’s taking a hard line toward enforcing the policies.
‘We will not permit our service to be abused around civic processes, most importantly elections,’ the company said.
‘Any attempt to do so – both foreign and domestic – will be met with strict enforcement of our rules, which are applied equally and judiciously for everyone.’
Twitter made the announcement Monday after reports President Donald Trump said he’d declare victory on election night if it looks like he was ahead
With a record number of mail-in votes, experts predict it could be days, or even weeks, before a winner in the 2020 presidential election is officially declared
Since 2018, Twitter has introduced several measures to protect the integrity of elections and combat misinformation.
This includes banning political ads, adding Election Labels to candidates’ accounts, and identifying doctored photos or video as ‘manipulated media.’
It also added labels and warnings to potentially harmful or misleading information about mail-in voting.
Many such measures have been used to fact-check misinformation, including tweets from President Trump.
Retweets and likes will be turned off on misleading tweets for political accounts with more than 100,000 followers rather than just attaching a misleading label
A tweet from President Trump that warned about ‘Fake, Missing and Fraudulent Ballots all over the Country,’ for example, was accompanied by a label encouraging users to ‘learn how voting by mail is safe and secure.’
Google and Facebook have also implemented strategies to combat voter intimidation and misinformation.
Both platforms are banning political ads after polls close on November 3.
Facebook will also add a banner at the top of its news feed on Election Day reminding users that no there is no declared winner until news outlets make the announcement.
