Late last month, the New York Times editorial board tackled what they saw as a huge problem: What if President Trump jumped on Twitter around, say, 11 p.m. on election night and declared that he’d won the election? We’ve all been told that it might be weeks or even a month before a winner can be definitively called due to the volume of mail-in ballots; it might appear as though Trump won on election night, but a month later the Democrats might have found enough mail-in ballots in car trunks to declare victory.
The editorial board floated some ideas, such as social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter “introducing friction into the algorithms” to slow down the spread of Trump’s victory tweet.
New York Times editorial board presses for plan if Trump tweets he won election https://t.co/drw6kB5fNK pic.twitter.com/eVjDnkVDah
— The Hill (@thehill) September 28, 2020
It looks like the people at Twitter were listening because they’ve rolled out a new rule that no one — not just candidates — may declare victory on Twitter before the race is “authoritatively called.”
Twitter levels the “Trump" rule https://t.co/a2jCgkZNOV pic.twitter.com/ga27K2j3aR
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) October 9, 2020
“Tweets which include premature claims will be labeled and direct people to our official US election page.”
Had Twitter been around on Election Night in 2000, it would've censored you if you noted that Bush won in Florida (and in fact never trailed in the state at any point) despite multiple networks falsely calling the state for Gore. https://t.co/ttsehis7nE
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 9, 2020
And calling the polls closed while they were still open in the panhandle.
— B.A. Meyer (@gwpbrianw) October 9, 2020
Recommended
Dont forget they called it a 7:30pm when the panhandle had 30 minutes left to vote and they vote red
— A True Bot (@TheBestestBot) October 9, 2020
Not only would "Bush won Florida" have been censored, even the less severe "Gore has not won Florida" would probably have drawn a ban.
— Brian Almon ?? (@brianalmon) October 9, 2020
“authoritative, national news outlets.. “ ?????
— George Davis (@PatriotGDavis) October 9, 2020
Twitter, which was founded on text messaging, is apparently unaware that campaign text messages exist.
— Patrick (@patrickishmael) October 9, 2020
Tweet police commies.
— Royboy (@mustsayno) October 9, 2020
It’s all part of the set up for the stealing of the election. They want to not allow open communication between Trump supporters or even Trump for that matter. A Twitter blackout would not surprise me on election night.
— Brody (@APodCalypseNow2) October 9, 2020
He will be banned for good on election night, especially if it looks like a slight Biden win. This is obvious.
— MGB (@BeefTheTeaLeaf) October 9, 2020
NONE of this should matter to a social media site, they should butt out.
— SPAC King (@KingofSPAC) October 9, 2020
It shouldn’t matter if your speculating a win or if your certain of the win. It’s just a form of censoring people more. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and should be able to express it regardless of what side of the political spectrum you support.
— Barbara (@Barbara66032766) October 9, 2020
BREAKING NEWS …. Twitter has contracted TDS.
Stay tuned for suspensions and shadow banning!
— Read, White & Blue is my Color ?????? (@GimmeTheNews1) October 9, 2020
Time to get it out of your system before the rule kicks in:
Okay, I will say it here now…. President Trump beats Joe Biden in an historical landslide.
— Scott (@ScottUSMCRet) October 9, 2020
? TRUMP WINS ?
— Eagle One ??? (@SeaEagleOne) October 9, 2020
Trump wins Florida!
— Veegersbeeper (@Veegerbeeper) October 9, 2020
Trump wins again.
— Will (@heavyteadog) October 9, 2020
TRUMP WINS MINNESOTA !!! (Testing)
— Jason Sanders (@jayxsanders) October 9, 2020
Twitter’s really getting into the fact-checking business:
We currently may label Tweets that violate our policies against misleading information about civic integrity, COVID-19, and synthetic and manipulated media. Starting next week, when people attempt to Retweet one of these Tweets with a misleading information label, they will see a prompt pointing them to credible information about the topic before they are able to amplify it.
“Synthetic and manipulated media,” i.e., memes.
Related:
‘INSANITY’: NYT editorial board essentially calls for the silencing of Trump and his supporters in social media on election night https://t.co/IG6IsRj4p9
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 29, 2020
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