As Republican Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden battle for the presidency, with the vote count showing the incumbent neck and neck with his challenger in his bid for reelection, Twitter has waded into the fray.
The microblogging site on Tuesday flagged Donald Trump's tweet, where he claimed that the Democrats were "stealing the election".
We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
The president appeared to be attacking the integrity of vote-by-mail ballots, which he has done throughout his campaign, claiming that the procedure was fraught with potential rigging.
Twitter maintained some of the contents of the post by the US President were "disputed and potentially misleading" about an election or other civic process.
We placed a warning on a Tweet from @realDonaldTrump for making a potentially misleading claim about an election. This action is in line with our Civic Integrity Policy. More here: https://t.co/k6OkjNXEAm
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) November 4, 2020
In his tweet, Trump had added that “votes cannot be cast after the polls are closed".
Twitter moved to place a warning on the tweet, adding the procedure was in line with its Civic Integrity Policy.
The company had earlier warned users against using its services with the aim of “manipulating or interfering” in elections.
While viewers can still see Trump’s tweet, the site had disabled all commenting and sharing options.
Back in September, Twitter had made a policy announcement that it would remove or label all tweets that are perceived as inciting unlawful activity and threaten a “peaceful transfer of power or orderly succession”.
The restricted tweets remain online while tagged with a warning message that users click through before viewing their content.
The flagged tweets also have their retweets, likes and comments disabled.
On Facebook, where Trump’s Twitter content is typically reposted, his message was tagged with a label telling users that election night results and final results may differ.
As the results of the US elections continue coming in, Democrat Joe Biden has secured 236 of the 270 electoral college votes needed for victory so far, while Donald Trump has 213 votes.
Trump scored narrow wins in battleground states of Florida and Ohio, having also swept to victory in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
