Trump takes Twitter to task for questioning his ‘facts’

US President Donald Trump is threatening to regulate social media platforms such as Twitter after the site added a “fact check” label to his tweets about widespread voter fraud when using mail-in-ballots.

“Republicans feel that social media platforms totally silence conservative’s voices,” Mr Trump tweeted yesterday, the second day in a row in which he lashed out at Twitter. Without elaborating, Mr Trump threatened social media censorship and even shutting down such outlets.

“We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen,” he said, accusing online platforms of attempting and failing to manipulate the 2016 election.

It was unclear what action Mr Trump could take because freedom of expression is protected by the US Constitution and the First Amendment. His rhetoric is seen as a rallying cry for his conservative base that has long criticised Twitter and Facebook and accused them of left-wing bias.

Mr Trump could set up a commission to review the alleged bias. His claim is in response to Twitter labelling two of his tweets on Tuesday that falsely indicate mail-in ballots are fraudulent.

Under the tweets, Twitter posted a link that read “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” and which took users to a notice calling the claims “unsubstantiated”, citing reports by CNN, The Washington Post and other media. “Trump falsely claimed that mail-in ballots would lead to ‘rigged election’,” the notice contended.

“However, fact-checkers say there is no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud.”

Twitter spokeswoman Katie Rosborough said the tweets “contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labelled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots”.

The president has long used Twitter as a platform to spread his message but critics say he peddles abuse, conspiracy theories, false information and insults to his 80 million followers.