Twitter fact-checks Trump
Twitter on Tuesday placed warnings on two posts from President Trump earlier in the day in which he railed against mail-in voting in California, claiming without evidence the practice is full of fraud.
“These Tweets contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labeled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots,” a spokesperson for the social media platform told The Hill, pointing to a recent blog post on misinformation policies.
The president has increasingly leveled unsubstantiated claims about widespread fraud in mail-in voting as states consider it as a way to decrease the risk of the coronavirus spreading posed.
The tweets Tuesday, which came two days after Republican National Committee sued Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) over his effort to expand mail-in voting in California, alleged that allowing an expansion would rig the election.
The warning, which reads “Get the facts about mail-in ballots,” links to a page on Twitter featuring an explanation of the factual errors in the tweets as well as links to various outlets covering the tweets.
“Trump falsely claimed 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,” it reads under the heading “What you need to know.”
“Trump falsely claimed that California will send mail-in ballots to ‘anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there.’ In fact, only registered voters will receive ballots. Though Trump targeted California, mail-in ballots are already used in some states, including Oregon, Utah and Nebraska.”