Facebook and Twitter will be posting warnings on social media posts where candidates or campaign teams declare victory in the US election too early.
Donald Trump or Joe Biden may say they won too soon because many people voted by mail and it may take several days to count all the votes.
In reports where victory is claimed too early, Twitter will put a label stating that official sources have a different result or that there is no result at all. Facebook plans to post specific information in the company’s apps, linking to the electoral committees, and introducing labels similar to Twitter’s.
Facebook reports that it will also delete all posts calling for people not to vote or where people can be seen to be stopped who want to vote.
Twitter reports that officials who work on electoral committees and major news outlets such as ABC News, AP, CNN and Fox News are not being labelled because they have an independent election team.
Major social media are under pressure to counter disinformation and fake news during the US presidential election. Four years ago, there was a lot of criticism on Facebook and Twitter for the spread of fake news.
