The National Republican Senatorial Committee called out Twitter for slapping its “Headlines don’t tell the full story” label on links from the GOP fundraising platform WinRed while links from lib platform ActBlue do not:
.@Twitter is now censoring @WINRED links to donate to Republicans. But ActBlue links to donate to Democrats? No problem there! pic.twitter.com/BpUJntcKlR
— The Senate Majority (@NRSC) October 21, 2020
Twitter actually admitted its error and said it was because WinRed shares blog content from the same domain, which is what triggered the warning:
Across Twitter, we’re suggesting that people read articles before Retweeting them. The prompt is shown on websites with articles, blog posts, and those that share other information of public relevance. You can still easily Retweet. More ⬇️https://t.co/7v0pcf9A9q
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) October 22, 2020
Because this domain publishes blog content, the prompt appeared. However, given the specific political function of the website and to ensure parity with other similar domains, the prompt will no longer appear when it is shared.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) October 22, 2020
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But, SURPRISE! There IS blog content at ActBlue. See the link to “Blog” right there at the top of the page?
Busted. Again.
On the other hand, maybe asking people to click on a fundraising link rather than just sharing them would help the organization raising money?
People complaining about Twitter forcing you to click the donate link before Retweeting. REALLY? Let me break down a few things.
1) SOCIAL MARKETERS STRUGGLE TO GET PEOPLE TO CLICK LINKS. THIS ACTUALLY HELPS.
2) Fundraising on social media is hard, but especially on Twitter/1— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair ? (@senatorshoshana) October 22, 2020
DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I would give to put that popup on every donation linked tweet???? The PROBLEM for me in the past has been people RTing instead of donating/clicking for the article.
3) But it's still a barrier and I get that. Sometimes you just want the tweet to go far/2— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair ? (@senatorshoshana) October 22, 2020
link be damned. I totally get that
4) It's a new feature they're rolling out. I get it haphazardly. Doesn't show at all on @RSI when I'm logged in, but sometimes on @senatorshoshana. It totally varies. But that happens with new features. /3— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair ? (@senatorshoshana) October 22, 2020
5) If it's true that ActBlue is whitelisted and WinRed is not, that's also wrong and they should fix that. I don't think they should whitelist anything, tbh. Some links of fake news sites look like legit links.
— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair ? (@senatorshoshana) October 22, 2020
5) If it's true that ActBlue is whitelisted and WinRed is not, that's also wrong and they should fix that. I don't think they should whitelist anything, tbh. Some links of fake news sites look like legit links.
— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair ? (@senatorshoshana) October 22, 2020
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