Facebook, Twitter to label candidate posts declaring premature victory on Election Day
Labeled posts will display a message from Twitter noting that “official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted."
Social media platforms Facebook and Twitter reiterated this week that they will add warning labels to posts from President Trump, Democratic nominee Joe Biden or any other political figure who claims election victory before results have been independently verified.
In an updated blog post published Monday, Twitter posted previews of how the warning labels will look if implemented on Election Day. Labeled posts will display a message from Twitter noting that “official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted” or “Official sources called this election differently.” Users will be directed to “find out more” about the situation through a link.
Twitter noted that it will consider results verified when “either an announcement is made from state election officials, or a public projection is made from at least two authoritative, national news outlets.” Company executives identified ABC News, The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, Decision Desk HQ, Fox News and NBC News as national outlets that meet that criteria.
Twitter first announced plans in early October to flag tweets that prematurely declared victory in the upcoming election. The policy is meant to prevent any candidate from using Twitter to “manipulate or interfere in elections or other civic processes,” executives said in a blog post.
ZUCKERBERG: FACEBOOK WILL RESTRICT LESS CONTENT AFTER US ELECTIONS
Facebook will use labels that declare that “votes are being counted” and “the winner of the 2020 US Presidential Election has not been projected” if a candidate declares early victory, according to Axios.
Company spokesman Andy Stone said election results will be considered officials once the race has been called by the national Election Pool/Edison via Reuters, the Associated Press and “six independent decision desks at major media outlets. Stone did not identify which outlets.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg first detailed the company’s approach to candidate posts on Election Day in a Sept. 3 blog post.
“Importantly, if any candidate or campaign tries to declare victory before the results are in, we’ll add a label to their post educating that official results are not yet in and directing people to the official results,” Zuckerberg wrote at the time.