Twitter ticks off Trump with new 'Get the facts' alert on pair of fact-challenged tweets
- Reference: 1590568262
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/27/twitter_fact_checks_trump_tweets/
- Source link:
Trump on Tuesday took to the avian network with the following pair of tweets.
....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! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) [1]May 26, 2020
Evidence of the fraud Trump alleged is hard to find. The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity that Trump commissioned was disbanded without issuing a final report on voter fraud. Several US states refused to co-operate with the commission on grounds that the Trump administration had no business probing their electoral rolls and they had in any event done their own investigations and found trivial instances of dodgy voting. The job of investigating voter fraud was handed to the Department of Homeland Security, which is yet to issue a report. Trump-era partisan bickering has persisted ever since, with competing world views proving all but irreconcilable.
One fact is certain: California recently conducted a [2]special election for a congressional seat and it was won by a member of Trump's Republican Party with almost 60 per cent of votes submitted by mail. That result overturned the outcome of the 2018 House elections in the district, suggesting that vote-by-mail may not hurt Trump's prospects!
Against that background, Twitter added the text "Get the facts about mail-in ballots" to the above tweets and linked it to a [3]page titled "Trump makes unsubstantiated claim that mail-in ballots will lead to voter fraud" and offering a panel headed "What you need to know" that offers the following information:
Trump falsely claimed that mail-in ballots would lead to "a Rigged Election". However, fact-checkers say there is no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud.
Trump falsely claimed that California will send mail-in ballots to "anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there." In fact, only registered voters will receive ballots.
Five states already vote entirely by mail and all states offer some form of mail-in absentee voting, according to NBC News.
Trump, of course, had a riposte:
....Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) [4]May 26, 2020
Trump regularly asserts that CNN and the Post deliberately publish false stories about him and his administration but has almost always been unable to produce evidence of any untruths.
Twitter has previously left false Trump tweets alone on grounds that they are newsworthy, even if they also all-but-infringe its [5]rules . Just why the company chose to intervene at this moment is unclear.
However the social network is also facing criticism over recent Trump tweets [6]alleging Lori Klausutis was murdered in 2001 by MSNBC host – and ex-congressman – Joe Scarborough, even though her death was found to be [7]an accident caused by a fall due to an undiagnosed heart condition , and incidentally happened in a district office in Florida, while Scarborough himself was in Washington, 820 miles (1,300km) away.
Tim Klausutis, Lori's former husband, wrote to Twitter explaining how his ever-present grief has been exacerbated by the president, and imploring the social network's founder Jack Dorsey to therefore delete Trump's tweets on grounds they are false.
Twitter has, at the time of writing, declined to do so. Nor has the San Francisco upstart updated its rules or the [8]document that explains how it enforces that code. ®
[1] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1265255845358645254?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[2] https://electionresults.sos.ca.gov/special/us-rep/district/25
[3] https://twitter.com/i/events/1265330601034256384
[4] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1265427539008380928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[5] https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-rules
[6] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52810661
[7] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/us/politics/klausutis-letter-jack-dorsey.html
[8] https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/enforcement-philosophy
Re: Ooh, fun!
Can we also start seeing something similar on UK Govt & Tory tweets, and anything from Cummings.
The absence of the #mediascum hashtag is probably a sufficient marker.
I haven't previously paid much attention to Twitter and still don't have an account, but it's been quite fascinating to see the social-media-fuelled "culture war" eat itself over the last week or so.
Re: Ooh, fun!
> Can we also start seeing something similar on UK Govt & Tory tweets, and anything from Cummings.
Good idea. It needs to be something that warns people they should look closely... #eyesighttest perhaps?
Re: Ooh, fun!
You mean #barnardcastle
Re: Ooh, fun!
#AllIGotForMyBirthdayWasATripToBarnardsCastle
Re: Ooh, fun!
He should have said he was looking for an open branch of Greggs, the bairn needs his sausage rolls :)
Re: Ooh, fun!
UK Govt & Tory tweets,
And Labour ones, and let's not forget the DUP and Sinn Féin, and Sturgeon of course.
Or maybe we should just exercise that most uncommon of skills, common sense?
Re: Ooh, fun!
UK Govt & Tory tweets,
And Labour ones, and let's not forget the DUP and Sinn Féin, and Sturgeon of course.
Or maybe we should just exercise that most uncommon of skills, common sense?
We've needed an Advertising Watchdog (or more likely, an Attackdog) governing Political mrssages for some time. Spin was bad enough, but it's reached twist, verging on the fevered ravings of foaming madmen.
Re: Ooh, fun!
This is the problem. The ASA does not cover political messages, and the Electoral Commission only covers what the political parties say directly (eg Party Political Broadcasts).
Everything else falls between the cracks.
Even a stopped clock is occasionally right. But then, immediately wrong again.
Anyway, if postal ballot fraud doesn't work, there's plenty of other methods to fall back on. This bloke pretty much ran the gamut. It almost deserves a 'well done'.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-32428648
The Election Commissioner upheld a number of the allegations, including:
Voting fraud: ballots were double-cast or cast from false addresses
False statements made against Mr Rahman's rival Mr Biggs
Bribery: large amounts of money were given to organisations who were "totally ineligible or who failed to meet the threshold for eligibility"
Treating: providing free food and drink to encourage people to vote for Mr Rahman
Spiritual influence: voters were told that it was their duty as Muslims to vote for Mr Rahman. Mr Mawrey cited a letter signed by 101 Imams in Bengali stating it was people's "religious duty" to vote.
Re: Even a stopped clock is occasionally right. But then, immediately wrong again.
It also useful for the Party of Government to own the company that counts the Postal Ballots, whether it's a General Election or an Independence Referendum.
Re: Even a stopped clock is occasionally right. But then, immediately wrong again.
Do you have evidence of this?
UK (and also in the US I assume) postal ballots are counted locally, with direct oversight by election officials appointed by locally elected representatives following a very clear set of rules.
There is no 'company' doing the counting.
Re: Even a stopped clock is occasionally right. But then, immediately wrong again.
Left-pondian view:
Mail-in ballots would be hand-counted by the township/city clerk (or possibly county clerk; could vary by state).
In-person ballots are generally tabulated with some kind of machine. The kinds I am familiar with optically scan the ballot for validness/completeness as it is sucked into the locked storage bin. The visible "valid vote" counter increments, and the machine's results are taken at the end of the day, with the paper ballots stored for verification if necessary.
So, if anything, voting in person involves a machine made by a company, but mailing it in generally only involves the US Postal Service, and if they mess with the ballot it is immediately invalidated. Seems trustworthy enough to me!
Re: Even a stopped clock is occasionally right. But then, immediately wrong again.
"own the company that counts the Postal Ballots"
Where does that happen? Certainly not here in the UK.
Re: Even a stopped clock is occasionally right. But then, immediately wrong again.
>>>Spiritual influence: voters were told that it was their duty as Muslims to vote for Mr Rahman. Mr Mawrey cited a letter signed by 101 Imams in Bengali stating it was people's "religious duty" to vote.<<<
Were these two statement separate or in the same letter? there's a very big difference, it's not clear in the BBC article.
Rahman was just one of many local london electees mentioned in Private Eye over the years.
Re: Even a stopped clock is occasionally right. But then, immediately wrong again.
What made Rahman special is that he was continually mentioned in Private Eye over the years.
IIRC he even threatened to sue and got the Arkel v. Pressdram response, which is shorthand for "Feel free, hope you've got deep pockets as we can prove every bloody word.".
Free speech?
So why didn't they fact check his moan about free speech?
"No, your tweet was not censored, your right to spout shite was not affected. No, even the prez can't do anything about it - the first applies to government not private companies."
While his pushing of the voter fraud fantasy is the wider issue, the continual tweeting by Trump about the Joe Scarborough conspiracy theory is all the more disgusting - especially since Klausutis' husband has called on him to stop.
I would pay full ticket price...
...to get to watch private company, Twitter, explain in 140 characters to the sitting president of the United States what the 1st amendment actually means, and then ban him from their platform.
Come on Twitter
Just shut down his access for that last tweet.
Reply saying that free speech is permitted, but that doesn't mean shouting FIRE in a crowded theatre is permitted, and ban him for a week or two...
PLEASE
I wonder what the twitterer-in-chief talked about with the actual twitter-chief.
Money.
It's a coup
Reseed the epidemic. Force voting in person. Cancel the vote in 3 Republican states citing 'safety'. Force the Republican Supreme Court moderates into backing the choice 'for safety' and suppressing the election. Trump refuses hand over of power, has his little militia to support him while blocking law enforcement via Barr.
We're at the situation now where Republicans are trying to kill mail in ballot measures to force in person voting.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/24/politics/republican-national-committee-california-vote-by-mail-lawsuit/index.html
And this is why Republican states are opening prematurely and suppressing the Covid numbers.
Kentucky:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/gqypwx/kentucky_has_had_913_more_pneumonia_deaths_than/
Florida
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-covid-19-death-undercount-is-scarier-than-you-think
They know they're opening up with a higher level of epidemic than in March, they know the projections for a second wave would kill quarter of a million Americans, they know those dead will be old, and tend to be Republican voters. Do you think for a second there was ever a plan to hold an in-person election that would require old Republican voters to personally put themselves at risk of death to vote?
Of course not, the intention is to kill enough voters to let Republicans suppress the election.
It's a coup, recognize it for what it is. A full on Republican coup.
Oh, an if you're a Fox News viewer, realize the anti- face mask agenda, the anti-lockdown agenda, all of that is to kill you. You're the at-risk people that will die if they get their way. Their lies are intended to result in your death. Turn over the channel. You are not 'saving the economy' by sacrificing yourself. You're being sacrificed so that Republicans don't ever need to face another election again ever.
Re: It's a coup
Thanks for pointing that out, here's me thinking that in the US making another dollar was more important than saving other peoples lives.
>>>You're the at-risk people that will die<<< everyone is at risk, fat, over 50, male politicians especially so, ask boJo.
Re: It's a coup
False dichotomy. You don't make more money by keeping an epidemic going. The sooner its done the sooner you get back to normal. The sooner the economy picks up.
The older you are the more likely to die of Corona virus you are:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/
And the older you are the more skewed to Republican votes you are:
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/415356-survey-only-group-breaking-for-republicans-are-americans-65-or-older
"A new survey is finding that the only group voting Republican by a majority are those 65 and older."
Republican voters don't matter to Republican leadership. They don't want you voting by mail from the safety of your home, they want you to go, in person to a polling station, cast a vote in the middle of an epidemic, surrounded by coughing people not wearing masks breathing their plague down your neck.
All of these things, promoted on Fox News to its viewers, spewed by Republican bots and Facebook Russian marketing companies. "Masks are Burkhas", "Social Distancing is oppression", "Quarantine is tyranny".... Republican gibberish.
Even Paul Manasfort is out of jail (his prison sentence runs to November, 2024, he was released early by the justice department than risk 'corona virus'!). The man that put the Russian puppet into Ukraine is out ready for the next US election.
So old folks must visit a polling station, but Manasfort must not visit his prison cell.
All so they can cancel the election in 3 or more states and force the election to be annulled, a coup.
Rootin' Tootin'
....Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!
For some reason, my mind imaganed Yosemite Sam in one of his rages at this point.
Re: Rootin' Tootin'
I, as President, will not allow it to happen!
A hundred thousand deaths, on the other hand...
Re: Rootin' Tootin'
A hundred thousand deaths, on the other hand
So far...
I, as President, will not allow it to happen!
Oh go on - close down Twitter in support of free speech, please!
Re: I, as President, will not allow it to happen!
Yes, absolutely that. I dare you to show us exactly what, as President, you can do about it.
Go on, show us your full dictator suit.
Citizens United went to court and the Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same rights to free speech as everyone else. This was seen as a victory in republican circles, as "Big Government" could no longer "trample" on the constitutional rights of filthy rich people.
And now this. Funny how things change.
A fellow "Make Trumps Tweets Eight Again" user. It's the only was I can read them now. Turns them in crayon for those wondering.
Approve!
Limit him for a month or something.
OI! KETTLE!
You're black.
Signed Pot.
Seriously. Bullshit on Tw@ter is an issue? Why now? Makes more sense to just remember that absolutely everything on Tw@ter is somebody's opinion, no more, no less and thus extraordinarily likely to be opinionated bollocks.
Re: OI! KETTLE!
There are one or two perfumed handkerchiefs in the sea of ordure, like
COVID-19 Actuaries Response Group
but, as you say, sadly it is a reflection of the times that lying and hypocrisy seems to have no cost in real life as well as in twitter.
Is it me or ...
I find it hilarious to see those double/triple tweet posts, just because tweeter is limited to 140 chars ?
And the lunatic wouldn't even do anything outside of this limited media ...
Also, for voting, sorry lads, voting online, although indeed more healthy, just doesn't work if you care about democracy. It is just a way to change all votes after they've been posted ... I've yet to see anything vaguely more secure than a transparent urn with a counter and a legal minimum of 2 council people looking after it for the whole process duration.
Ooh, fun!
Sadly the warning doesn't appear when a tweet is embedded, only when you see it in your feed.
Can we also start seeing something similar on UK Govt & Tory tweets, and anything from Cummings.