Twitter is removing tweets falsely indicating that voters can vote after November 3rd because the posts are against the rules of the social network.
Tweets falsely claiming that people can vote on November 4, depending on the political party, surfaced early Tuesday as Americans went to the polls to choose between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. The polls close on Tuesday.
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The false tweets are an example of the kind of misinformation that social networks tackle on election day. Social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, have rules against posting content designed to suppress votes or prevent people from casting their ballots. The rules of Twitter Let's say it flags or removes false or misleading information about how to vote in an election.
CNET found more than two dozen tweets containing claims that either Republicans or Democrats could vote on Wednesday. It is unclear whether the tweets are jokes or are intended to deceive voters. When asked if there is an exception in Twitter's rules for satire against voter repression, a company spokesman said Twitter will remove tweets that violate its rules. The company wouldn't say how many of these tweets were removed, but some remain online.
Continue reading: It's Election Day: How To Spot Misinformation While You Wait For Results
In one of the pulled down tweets, a user falsely claimed that House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi had passed a bill that gave Democrats an extra day to vote. The user urged Democrats to vote on Wednesday instead of waiting in long lines on election day.
In another distant tweet, a user falsely claimed that Republicans should vote on Wednesday "to prevent larger groups from voting over Covid". Some of the tweets that are still falsely published say that election day for a party was split into two days.
Twitter wasn't the only social network dealing with confusing news about the voting deadline. Facebook's own Instagram said that on Tuesday, some users saw a message that said "Election day tomorrow". The message, which was actually delivered on Monday, was in the app's cache for a "small group of people" if they hadn't restarted the app. The message now reads "It is the last day to vote".
Facebook didn't respond to questions about how much content was removed to suppress voters.
Government officials on Tuesday warned voters about scam robocalls asking voters to vote on Wednesday because of long lines.