Trump rages at Twitter after social network fact-checks tweet

Twitter on Tuesday fact-checked tweets made by US President Donald Trump regarding mail-in ballots.

In the tweets, Trump dismisses the idea that in-mail ballots would be “anything less than substantially fraudulent”.

“Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed,” Trump continued.

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…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020

But in a surprise move, Twitter placed a fact-check box below Trump’s tweet with a link to alternative sources on the site headlined by a CNN Politics report.

The box reads, complete with an exclamation point prefix, “Get the facts about mail-in ballots”.

It’s the first time the social network has moderated any of Trump’s tweets.

Twitter spokeswoman Katie Rosborough told the Washington Post believed the posts contained “potentially misleading information about voting processes”.

Of course, Trump wasn’t happy about it.

“Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!” he said, complete with markup.

….Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020

Twitter’s move comes after it announced more firm action on “harmfully misleading” tweets, even by influential politicians.

Feature image: screenshot, Twitter