Twitter adds fact check to President Trump's tweets for first time
26 May 2020, 23:35
Twitter puts fact-check warning on Trump tweets
Twitter has labelled President Donald Trump’s tweets with a fact check message for the first time after he falsely claimed mail-in ballots were fraudulent.
Mr Trump posted two tweets which claimed the ballots would be “forged” and were “substantially fraudulent.”
His comments came as the Republican Party launched a legal battle to block California Governor Gavin Newsom from sending all voters in his state mail-in ballots for the general election.
The President also claimed “that will be followed up with professionals telling all of these people… how, and for whom, to vote.”
But Twitter added a link to the posts which said “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.”
Following that link takes users to a page which reads: "Trump makes unsubstantiated claim that mail-in ballots will lead to voter fraud.
"On Tuesday, President Trump made a series of claims about potential voter fraud after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced an effort to expand mail-in voting in California during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"These claims are unsubstantiated, according to CNN, Washington Post and others.
"Experts say mail-in ballots are very rarely linked to voter fraud."
According to the Washington Post, Twitter spokesperson Katie Rosborough said the tweets “contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labelled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots.”
The President tweeted: “There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent.
“Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed.
“The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one.
“That will be followed up with professionals telling all of these people, many of whom have never even thought of voting before, how, and for whom, to vote.
“This will be a Rigged Election. No way!”