Twitter fact-checks Trump tweet for the first time

[webfact]

Twitter fact-checks Trump tweet for the first time

By Katie Paul and Elizabeth Culliford

 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about negotiations with pharmaceutical companies over the cost of insulin for U.S. seniors on Medicare at an event in the Rose Garden at the White House during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Washington, U.S. May 26, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter <TWTR.N> on Tuesday for the first time prompted readers to check the facts in tweets sent by U.S. President Donald Trump, warning his claims about mail-in ballots were false and had been debunked by fact checkers.

 

The blue exclamation mark notification prompted readers to "get the facts about mail-in ballots" and directed them to a page with news articles and information about the claims aggregated by Twitter staffers.

 

"Trump makes unsubstantiated claim that mail-in ballots will lead to voter fraud," said a headline at the top of the page, followed by a "what you need to know" section correcting three false or misleading claims made in the tweets.

 

Trump had claimed in tweets earlier in the day that mail-in ballots would be "substantially fraudulent" and result in a "rigged election." He also singled out the governor of California over the issue, although the state is not the only one to use mail-in ballots.

 

Twitter confirmed this was the first time it had applied a fact-checking label to a tweet by the president, in an extension of its new "misleading information" policy introduced this month to combat misinformation about the coronavirus.

 

The company said at the time it would later extend the policy on disputed or misleading information about COVID-19 to other topics.

 

Twitter's fact-checking notification on Wednesday came hours after the social network declined to take action on tweets Trump sent about the 2001 death of a former congressional staff member, after her widower asked the company to remove them for furthering false claims.

 

Twitter explicitly bans content that could result in voter suppression, but a company spokesman said the president's tweets on mail-in ballots did not violate that policy.

 

(Reporting by Katie Paul and Elizabeth Culliford; Editing by Leslie Adler, Howard Goller and Cynthia Osterman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-05-27

 

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[Tug]

It’s about time!

[impulse]

5 minutes ago, Tug said:

It’s about time!

 

As long as they do it fairly and consistently for the porkies told by all sides...

 

[simple1]

3 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

As long as they do it fairly and consistently for the porkies told by all sides...

 

i agree, but considering the volume of misinformation and lies spread by trump via twitter will be an expensive exercise.

[johnpetersen]

But they refused to do anything about Trump's promotion of that conspiracy theory about Scarborough being involved in the death of a female staffer at his office and having an affair with her even though it's been debunked repeatedly. Even after her husband pleaded with Twitter to do something about it.

[simple1]

13 minutes ago, johnpetersen said:

But they refused to do anything about Trump's promotion of that conspiracy theory about Scarborough being involved in the death of a female staffer at his office and having an affair with her even though it's been debunked repeatedly. Even after her husband pleaded with Twitter to do something about it.

I agree. Social media platform providers in the US and elsewhere have a lot to answer for with the deliberate spread by their users of misinformation & lies undermining the fabric of society. . It will be interesting to see how trump responds, will it be his usual M.O. of naming truth tellers as scum / traitors?

Edited May 27, 2020 by simple1

[Oxx]

Two complaints about this:

 

(1) The warning "Get the facts" is too mild.  A skull and "This is a lie" in red would be more appropriate.

 

(2) The warning doesn't even appear when tweets are embedded in another website.

[Throatwobbler]

21 minutes ago, johnpetersen said:

But they refused to do anything about Trump's promotion of that conspiracy theory about Scarborough being involved in the death of a female staffer at his office and having an affair with her even though it's been debunked repeatedly. Even after her husband pleaded with Twitter to do something about it.

Trump is addicted to telling lies and his supporters just lap them all up.

[TopDeadSenter]

56 minutes ago, webfact said:

 

The blue exclamation mark notification prompted readers to "get the facts about mail-in ballots" and directed them to a page with news articles and information about the claims aggregated by Twitter staffers.

I can see a problem here already. Why would I trust Twitters "fact checkers"? I have no idea who these individuals are, but seeing as the Facebook fact check team are a panel of well known leftists it is clearly a farce.

 For the record, the mighty Facebook "fact check" team includes the deranged academic Pamela Karlan, who was a star witness during the Trump impeachment. Although she saw and witnessed and knew nothing at all about the case she was abusive towards Trumps young son, and said she crossed the road to not have to walk past one of Trumps properties. And we are expected to believe this will be a fair and impartial judge?!

 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-oversight-members-factbox/factbox-who-are-the-first-members-of-facebooks-oversight-board-idUSKBN22I2N0

[Canuck1966]

It's amazing how many people take the fact checkers & fact checker websites as gospel

 

You see many people use fact checkers and debunked websites as a source.

 

 

 

[Sujo]

3 minutes ago, Canuck1966 said:

It's amazing how many people take the fact checkers & fact checker websites as gospel

 

You see many people use fact checkers and debunked websites as a source.

 

 

 

Perhaps you could start by telling us what is true in the stated tweets.

[stevenl]

7 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

I can see a problem here already. Why would I trust Twitters "fact checkers"? I have no idea who these individuals are, but seeing as the Facebook fact check team are a panel of well known leftists it is clearly a farce.

 For the record, the mighty Facebook "fact check" team includes the deranged academic Pamela Karlan, who was a star witness during the Trump impeachment. Although she saw and witnessed and knew nothing at all about the case she was abusive towards Trumps young son, and said she crossed the road to not have to walk past one of Trumps properties. And we are expected to believe this will be a fair and impartial judge?!

 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-oversight-members-factbox/factbox-who-are-the-first-members-of-facebooks-oversight-board-idUSKBN22I2N0

 

2 minutes ago, Canuck1966 said:

It's amazing how many people take the fact checkers & fact checker websites as gospel

 

You see many people use fact checkers and debunked websites as a source.

 

 

 

So again Trump is telling lies, and again in stead of attacking the source of the lies you attack the people setting the facts straight.

[pegman]

Trump ought to be banned from these platforms for his repeated lies. 

[cyril sneer]

not surprising given Twitter is controlled by the far-left

[Somtamnication]

Quite a predicament to be in by Jack, the owner. Shut a government head or fact check. I think the fact check in YELLOW was a brilliant middle ground and about 3.5 years too late!

 

[Oxx]

24 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

she [Karlan] was abusive towards Trumps young son

 

Ludicrous statement.  She made a not-very-funny joke about Presidential abuse of power.  Not abusive towards Barron at all.  The right wing media blew it up out of all proportion, as they are prone to do.

[Oxx]

4 minutes ago, cyril sneer said:

not surprising given Twitter is controlled by the far-left

If Twitter were controlled by the far left, then surely they'd being suppressing the nonsense that is spewed by Trump and right-wing nutjobs.  As it is, Twitter changed its rules specifically to allow Trump to carry on denigrating and lying.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

 

As long as they do it fairly and consistently for the porkies told by all sides...

 

Absolutely, no problem with that at all.

 

It’s not like doing so adds a lot more effort.

[Chomper Higgot]

Surely we know by now, pointing out Trump’s bare faced lies has no impact at all on his core supporters.

 

 

[Crazy Alex]

Translation of article: We have GOT to do whatever it takes to see to it Trump is not reelected.

[Mama Noodle]

2 hours ago, impulse said:

As long as they do it fairly and consistently for the porkies told by all sides...

But they won't, Ill bet my retirement on it. 

[Crazy Alex]

1 hour ago, Oxx said:

If Twitter were controlled by the far left, then surely they'd being suppressing the nonsense that is spewed by Trump and right-wing nutjobs.  As it is, Twitter changed its rules specifically to allow Trump to carry on denigrating and lying.

Twitter DOES suppress right wing views.

[Crazy Alex]

2 hours ago, johnpetersen said:

But they refused to do anything about Trump's promotion of that conspiracy theory about Scarborough being involved in the death of a female staffer at his office and having an affair with her even though it's been debunked repeatedly. Even after her husband pleaded with Twitter to do something about it.

You say it's a conspiracy theory. Who all was in on the conspiracy?

Edited May 27, 2020 by Crazy Alex

[Mama Noodle]

1 minute ago, Crazy Alex said:

Translation of article: We have GOT to do whatever it takes to see to it Trump is not reelected.

 

Notice how not a single person, headline, or opinion differentiates between "absentee ballots" and "vOtE bY mAiL" 

 

Air dropping applications to 'residents' on the 'voter rolls' is a farce. 

[Eric Loh]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Twitter fact-checks Trump tweet for the first time

Will never happen to other developed global leaders except for Trump. It's so undignifying to the country. 

[ThaiFelix]

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

 

So again Trump is telling lies, and again in stead of attacking the source of the lies you attack the people setting the facts straight.

I guess its desperation as they must be running out of legs to stand on.  

[ThaiFelix]

29 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Surely we know by now, pointing out Trump’s bare faced lies has no impact at all on his core supporters.

 

 

But hey you gotta admire their determination considering the overwhelming odds.  Wonder if there is some other agenda that drives them?

[Chomper Higgot]

20 minutes ago, Crazy Alex said:

Twitter DOES suppress right wing views.

Twitter deletes hate speech, which is so often a core of rightwing views, so yes, in a sense you are correct.

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed. 

[pmarlin]

The joke is on twitter. When twitter was fact checked on the fact check by other liberal news outlets like CNN. New York Times and more twitter was wrong.  Trump was right.