President Donald Trump has accused Twitter of interfering in the 2020 U.S. election scheduled for Nov. 3 after the microblogging service provider tagged his tweet as misleading.
Trump also lashed out at the company for “completely stifling free speech”, saying he would never let that happen as president.
“@Twitter is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election.
“They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post.
“Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!” he tweeted in response.
Earlier on Tuesday, Twitter labelled a post by Trump as misleading, and directed the president’s followers to a fact-check page on the post.
In the tweet, Trump had claimed that voting by mail or mail-in ballots would lead to “substantial fraud”.
It read in part: “ There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent.
“Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out and fraudulently signed.”
There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
Under the tweet came a circled exclamation mark followed by the message: “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” in a hyperlink.
The link takes readers to a Twitter fact-check page that debunks the claim.
“Trump falsely claims that mail-in ballots would lead to ‘a Rigged Election’.
“However, fact-checkers say there is no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud,” the company said.
The move came after Twitter turned down a widower’s request to delete “horrifying lies” told by the president in a tweet about the death of his wife.
Rather, the social media giant, which had promised to warn its users about false or misleading messages posted on the platform, resorted to the use of the label on Trump.
Trump’s claim on the mail-in ballots followed his attacks, over the weekend, on the use of the voting method by several states, including California.
The states say they will use that option in November to prevent a second wave of the coronavirus disease that has taken a heavy toll on the country.
