Twitter Corrects Trump Fact Check After It Gets Debunked
Twitter's claims about voting get fact-checked, forcing social media giant to update label
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Twitter has been forced to correct its high-controversial fact-check of President Donald Trump's tweets after the claims it made to justify the "misleading" label were independently debunked.
On Tuesday, Twitter applied warning notices to tweets by President Trump with links to a page advising users that his comments were "unsubstantiated."
However, the social media giant was forced to correct its own claims Thursday after the Wall Street Journal pointed out that the fact check, itself, was factually inaccurate.
The controversy was triggered when Trump tweeted criticism of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to send mail-in ballot applications to every registered voter in the state on Tuesday.
Shortly after, Twitter added a “fact check” label that read: “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.”
....living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one. That will be followed up with professionals telling all of these people, many of whom have never even thought of voting before, how, and for whom, to vote. This will be a Rigged Election. No way!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
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Twitter’s fact-checking link pointed users to articles by CNN and the Washington Post — two outlets notorious for their opposition to the Trump administration, according to Breitbart.
However, the Wall Street Journal noted:
Twitter’s fact check of Mr. Trump’s tweet appeared to contain its own misleading statement, however, stating that “mail-in ballots are already used in some states, including Oregon, Utah and Nebraska.”
That statement appears to conflate automatic all-mail voting with absentee ballots in regards to at least one state.
While all states allow absentee voting via the mail, only a handful of states including Oregon and Utah automatically send registered voters mail-in ballots.
Nebraska, in contrast, recently mailed applications to every voter—in response to the pandemic, and the state didn’t automatically send ballots.
The mistake raised questions about Twitter’s ability to serve as an independent service to fact check statements by Mr. Trump or other political figures on its service.
Late Tuesday, Twitter updated its language to remove reference to Nebraska and instead stated that “five states already vote entirely by mail and all states offer some form of mail-in absentee voting.”
The Journal noted in an update: “Late Tuesday Twitter updated its language in a fact-check of President Trump’s tweet.”
The Journal‘s Dustin Volz tweeted: “It was corrected after an elections professional notified the company (and me) about the mistake.”
As Breitbart News has reported, California faces at least two lawsuits over mail-in ballots by plaintiffs alleging that Newsom lacks constitutional and legal authority to change the state’s voting system without legislative approval.
Meanwhile, the controversy deepened after it emerged that tweets from liberal figures have been left untouched by Twitter, even when their claims have been widely debunked.
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As Neon Nettle previously reported, Twitter's policy doesn't appear to extend to Democrats like Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who falsely claimed President Trump colluded with Russia.
His tweets still remain intact with no warning despite being disproven a year ago.
Here’s where we begin our investigation into Russian interference – with circumstantial evidence of collusion & direct evidence of deception pic.twitter.com/1tobpyCjkj
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) March 19, 2017
In response to the one-sided restrictions by Twitter and other big tech firms, President Trump signed an executive order to reign in social media giants on Thursday.
