Twitter flags Trump tweet saying Democrats aim to ‘steal’ election

Twitter a pinned warning label on President Donald Trump‘s tweet claiming that Democrats are trying to ‘steal’ the election minutes after it went live. 

Trump took to social media just before 1am on Wednesday, proclaiming: ‘We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it.’ 

He also suggested that states are accepting late ballots, adding: ‘Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!’

Twitter wasted no time flagging Trump’s tweet with the message: ‘Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.’

Facebook flagged the same post, but its message was more vague: ‘Final results may be different than initial vote counts, as ballot counting will continue for days or weeks.’  

Trump’s posts appeared to be in direct response to a dramatic statement Joe Biden made minutes earlier, asking Americans to be patient and claiming he would eventually be the victor of the presidential election despite failing to land knockout blows in Florida, Ohio and Texas. 

‘It ain’t over till every vote is counted,’ Biden said on the stage which had been erected for his victory speech in Wilmington, Delaware. 

 

The Democratic challenger spoke as it became clear that it could be hours or days before the election results are tabulated in full.   

Biden’s failure to flip a series of the biggest prizes means that the election is now almost entirely about the ‘blue wall’ Midwestern states which Hillary Clinton lost in 2016: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The Democrats were handed Arizona by Fox News in a call which the White House was disputing. If it holds, it gives him a precarious path to victory through two of the three states.

Both he and Trump are now effectively in a stalemate which can only be ended by the lengthy process of counting mail-in ballots.

‘We feel good about where we are, we really do. I’m here to tell you tonight, we believe we’re on track to win this election,’ Biden, alongside wife Jill, told supporters gathered outside the Chase Center.

He pointed to the gain of Arizona, which Fox News called earlier, and Minnesota, which NBC News said was leaning Biden minutes before he came onstage.

‘And we’re still in the game in Georgia, although that’s not one we expected,’ Biden said.

‘We feel real good about Wisconsin and Michigan,’ he continued. ‘And, by the way, we’re going to win Pennsylvania,’ he said, getting copious honks from his drive-in crowd.

Biden said he was ‘encouraged,’ especially, by turnout in Philadelphia, which is adjacent to Wilmington.

‘Look, we could know the results as early as tomorrow morning. It may take longer as I’ve said all along,’ he said. ‘It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to call who wins this election, that’s the decision of the American people.’

‘I am optimistic about this outcome,’ he said.

Right before he exited he told the crowd that he and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, would be talking tomorrow.

As Biden was pulling in, the jumbotrons, which were playing MSNBC, announced that President Donald Trump had officially won Florida – the first sign Tuesday that the US was in for a long night.

Big swaths of potentially Democratic votes were outstanding in places like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Detroit and Atlanta when Biden appeared.

 

Twitter, Facebook and Google-owned YouTube ramped up efforts to prevent the spread of misinformation well ahead of when the polls opened, as experts predicted a very tight race that could take days to reach a conclusion.  

Making good on its promise to head-off misleading posts, Twitter flagged a tweet from the Trump campaign earlier on Tuesday night which declared a victory in South Carolina. 

That tweet came as multiple news outlets – including the Associated Press, CNN and the New York Times – also called the state for Trump.  

‘Official sources may not have called the race when this was Tweeted,’ the Twitter label read. 

According to Twitter’s election rules, tweets declaring victory must be backed by calls from at least two of seven news organizations: ABC News, Associated Press,  CBS News, CNN, Decision Desk HQ, Fox News, National Election Pool, NBC News and Reuters. 

The AP was the only one of those seven that had called South Carolina at the time that the tweet went up. CNN followed soon after.  

But Twitter didn’t flag another tweet from the Trump campaign which declared victory in Florida, even though that race hadn’t been officially called by two of the seven yet. 

Twitter explained that the Florida tweet was not in violation of its rules because it tagged one of the approved race callers, Decision Desk HQ. 

The Trump campaign repeated the president’s claim that Democrats are trying to steal the election in a fundraising email early Wednesday morning.

‘President Trump needs your help,’ the email began. 

‘You’ve been there for him every step of the way these last few years. Anytime the Radical Left came after him, YOU have been there to defend him. 

‘We’re emailing you now to ask for you to step up ONE LAST TIME and DEFEND YOUR PRESIDENT! 

‘It’s no secret the Democrats will try to STEAL this Election. They can’t stand the thought of America REJECTING their candidate, so they’ll do whatever it takes to manipulate the results.’

It goes on to ask supporters for donations to help with a potential legal challenge over the results.