Twitter Labels Pro-Trump Election Calls Even When Media Agree

November 3rd, 2020 11:06 PM

Twitter couldn’t wait to test its new labeling policy on election night. Several accounts and influencers were given big blue labels after calling a win in certain states for the incumbent, President Donald Trump.

The Trump campaign’s Twitter account, the Bongino Report, and pundits like Robby Starbuck and Ali Alexander were given labels from Twitter after declaring wins in Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Curiously, the Bongino Report was also given a label for calling wins for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in New Mexico and New York. The labels said, “Official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted.” 

The Associated Press and NBC News both projected that Trump would win South Carolina. These two outlets had been approved by Twitter as having the ability to make results “official.” Yet Twitter did not remove the label from the Trump Campaign’s tweet. 

However, while those tweets were labeled, a tweet from Democratic Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro claimed that “If all the votes are added up in PA, Trump is going to lose. That’s why he’s working overtime to subtract as many votes as possible from this process.” This tweet was not labeled.

Previously, Twitter announced that it would “label or remove false or misleading information intended to undermine public confidence in an election or other civic process.”

The company released more clarifications later. “We’ll consider a result official when announced by a state election official, or when calls are made by at least two of the below national news outlets that have dedicated, independent election decision desks: @ABC, @AP @CBSNews, @CNN, @DecisionDeskHQ, @FoxNews, and @NBCNews,” said Twitter Support.

Conservatives are under attack. Contact Twitter at (415) 222-9670 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.