NEW YORK (US) – Twitter and Facebook announced plans on Monday to place warning labels on posts of US presidential election candidates and campaigns claiming early victory.
This comes as the two social media platforms are bracing for an exceptionally high number of mail-in ballots that may cause a delay in final results.
From election night until the inauguration of the new president, Twitter said it would place warning labels such as “official sources called this election differently”, or “official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted”.
In its apps, Facebook will provide specific information in news feed notifications and in the labels on posts if a candidate or a party declares early victory. It will continue to show the latest results in its Voting Information Center, according to a statement.
On Election Day, Facebook will keep track of a range of issues, including reports of voter suppression content and will eliminate all attempts to suppress participation or intimidate voters.
Twitter said US-based accounts with more than 100,000 followers and a significant engagement will be considered for labelling.
It also said it would consider state election officials and national news outlets such as ABC News, Associated Press, CNN and Fox News that have independent election decision desks as official sources as far as the results are concerned. Their official Twitter handles will be exempted from labelling.
