A day after the United states President Donald Trump threatened to close down social media platforms over the fact-check row on Twitter, CEO Jack Dorsey, on Thursday, 28 May said labelling two of Trump's tweets doesn't make Twitter “arbiter of truth”.
Trump on Wednesday had said, “Twitter has now shown that everything we have been saying about them (and their other compatriots) is correct. Big action to follow!”
In response, Dorsey tweeted saying, "Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. Please leave our employees out of this."
He adds, "We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make."
The US president’s reaction had come after Twitter labelled two tweets posted by him on Tuesday in which he reportedly contended without evidence that mail-in voting would lead to fraud and a “rigged election.”
Here’s what exactly happened:
What did Trump Tweet?
Trump had tweeted saying that the country cannot let large scale Mail-In Ballots take root since it will lead to forgery of elections and the elections will be rigged.
To this, Twitter posted a link which read “Get the facts about mail-in ballots”— a first for the social network platform which has long resisted calls to censure the US president over his controversial posts.
Why did Twitter Label Trump’s Tweets?
In order to limit the spread of potentially harmful and misleading content, starting on 11 March, Twitter introduced new labels and warning messages on some tweets containing disputed or misleading information.
"We will continue to introduce new labels to provide context around different types of unverified claims and rumours as needed," Twitter had said in an earlier statement.
Despite Trump posting harmful tweets for several times, Twitter was yet to flag or curb his tweets.
What does Twitter Say About It?
A Twitter spokesperson, in a statement to TechCrunch, said that the pair of tweets from the President "contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labelled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots".
When a user browses the tweets in question, a link from Twitter shows "Get the facts about mail-in ballots," then leads to tweets and articles debunking the President's statements.
Twitter Interfering with 2020 Elections: Trump Lashes Back
Trump then lashed out at Twitter saying that the social media platform is interfering with the 2020 elections.
The president has long used Twitter as a platform to spread his remarks, conspiracy theories, false information and insults to his 80 million followers, reported AFP.
Trump Targets Republicans
Trump had earlier also said that the Republicans feel that social media platforms “totally silence conservatives voices.”
“We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen,” he added.
Conservatives, including Trump, have accused Twitter of portraying bias towards them and curbing free speech in the past.
"The Radical Left is in total command & control of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google," Trump had tweeted earlier this month.
The US President added that the administration was "working to remedy this illegal situation."
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