Twitter Calls Out Trump’s Bogus Claim of Voter Fraud and Flags His Tweet

OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Twitter just flagged another Donald Trump tweet for making “misleading health claims that could potentially dissuade people from participation in voting.”
At 7:25 a.m. Sunday, Trump tweeted the bogus claim that “Democrats are using Mail Drop Boxes, which are a voter security disaster.” He questioned their security and wrongfully said they make it possible for people to vote multiple times. “Also, who controls them, are they placed in Republican or Democrat areas? They’re not Covid sanitized,” Trump wrote. “A big fraud!”
Hours later Twitter placed a “public interest notice” on his tweet. 

We placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our Civic Integrity Policy for making misleading health claims that could potentially dissuade people from participation in voting. https://t.co/MA6E7mBpkm
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) August 23, 2020

This is not the first time the social media platform has flagged President Trump’s tweets for pushing inflammatory and factually incorrect content to his 85 million followers. In late June, Twitter placed a notice on a Trump tweet for violating its policy against abusive behavior. 

We’ve placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our policy against abusive behavior, specifically, the presence of a threat of harm against an identifiable group.https://t.co/AcmW6O6d4t
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) June 23, 2020

And in late May, a Trump tweet was flagged for violating Twitter’s policy against glorification of violence and “risk it could inspire similar actions.”

We have placed a public interest notice on this Tweet from @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/jau9J2edX7
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) May 29, 2020

Trump’s Sunday morning tweet was also a Facebook post on his page, but of course, Facebook didn’t flag it or take it down.