Twitter has hidden a tweet made by US President Donald Trump and labelled it as “misleading” after he claimed that certain election ballot drop boxes are not “COVID sanitised” and threaten voter security.
Tweeting on Sunday morning, Trump wrote: “So now the Democrats are using Mail Drop Boxes, which are a voter security disaster. Among other things, they make it possible for a person to vote multiple times. Also, who controls them, are they placed in Republican or Democrat areas? They are not COVID sanitised. A big fraud!”
By that afternoon, the tweet had been flagged by Twitter, with a label now appearing on the tweet explained that its content had violated the social media platform’s rules on “civic and election integrity”.
“This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about civic and election integrity. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible,” the message read, which means that users will be able to quote tweet Trump’s post, but they are not able to like, reply or retweet it.
Twitter also acknowledged the warning on their official account, saying, “We placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our Civic Integrity Policy for making misleading health claims that could potentially dissuade people from participation in voting.”
“Per our policies, this Tweet will remain on the service given its relevance to ongoing public conversation. Engagements with the Tweet will be limited. People will be able to Retweet with Comment, but not Like, Reply, or Retweet it.
https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1297575467206103040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1297575467206103040%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2020%2F08%2F23%2Ftwitter-hides-trump-tweet-behind-notice-for-potentially-dissuading-people-from-voting%2F
Its the latest in several warnings by Twitter to Donald Trump in recent months, with Twitter putting a similar label on a tweet in May that read, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” saying it violated “our policies regarding the glorification of violence based on the historical context of the last line, its connection to violence, and the risk it could inspire similar actions today.”
Later in June, another tweet from Trump said, “There will never be an ‘Autonomous Zone’ in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!” which was subsequently hit with another warning for “promoting abusive behaviour.”
