Twitter accuses Trump of false claims

TWITTER labeled two Donald Trump tweets “unsubstantiated” and accused him of making false claims on Tuesday, a first for the social network which has long resisted calls to censure the US president over truthdefying posts.

The move drew a furious response from Trump, who used the platform to accuse Twitter of “interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election.”

The social media giant targeted two tweets the president posted on Tuesday in which he contended without evidence that mail-in voting would lead to fraud and a “Rigged Election.”

Under the tweets, Twitter posted a link which read “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” and taking users to a notice calling the claims “unsubstantiated,” citing 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.”

Trump aimed the misleading tweets at California, contending falsely that anyone living in the state would be sent ballots when in fact they will only go to registered voters.

The president has long used

Twitter as a platform to spread abuse, conspiracy theories, false information and insults to his 80 million followers.

Twitter, perhaps fearing a clash with one of its most influential users, had previously held out against calls to act.

The tweets in question violated a recently expanded Twitter policy, according to the San Francisco-based company.

“In serving the public conversation, our goal is to make it easy to find credible information on Twitter and to limit the spread of potentially harmful and misleading content,” head of site integrity Yoel Roth and global public policy director Nick Pickles said when the change was announced.

Twitter’s decision comes as Trump, already facing US economic calamity and 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus as well as sinking reelection polls.

He also faced a storm of backlash on Tuesday over his pushing of a conspiracy theory linking former Republican congressman and now MSNBC host Joe Scarborough to the death of a woman working for him in 2001.

The police ruled her death an accident.

(AFP)