Facebook Places Label on Trump's Post About Mail-in Voting

The Facebook label, which does not dispute Trump's claim, redirects users to details from a US government website.

By Reuters | Updated: 22 July 2020 10:10 IST

Facebook Places Label on Trump's Post About Mail-in Voting

Facebook has drawn heat over its decision not to act on inflammatory posts by the president

Highlights

The label is the most recent of several placed on posts by Trump
Voting by mail is not new in the United States
The Facebook label redirects users to details on how to vote

Facebook on Tuesday placed a "voting info" label on a post by US President Donald Trump that said mail-in voting would lead to a "CORRUPT ELECTION."

The label is the most recent of several placed on posts by Republican Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden since the company launched a policy to add information to posts by federal candidates and elected officials.

"Mail-In Voting, unless changed by the courts, will lead to the most CORRUPT ELECTION in our Nation's History! #RIGGEDELECTION," Trump wrote.

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Mail-In Voting, unless changed by the courts, will lead to the most CORRUPT ELECTION in our Nation's History! #RIGGEDELECTION
Posted by Donald J. Trump on Tuesday, 21 July 2020

Voting by mail is not new in the United States — nearly 1 in 4 voters cast 2016 presidential ballots that way. Routine methods and the decentralised nature of US elections make it very hard to interfere with mailed ballots, experts say.

The Facebook label, which does not dispute Trump's claim, redirects users to details from a US government website on how to vote in the 2020 elections.

Facebook Says Will Give Priority to Original News Reporting

Facebook has drawn heat from employees and lawmakers over its decision not to act on inflammatory posts by the president, including one about mail-in ballots that Twitter affixed with a fact-checking label.

Facebook started adding links to authoritative information last week to all posts relating to voting by federal candidates and elected officials. The company declined to comment Tuesday.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in June the labels are not "a judgment of whether the posts themselves are accurate, but we want people to have access to authoritative information either way."

Facebook runs a third-party fact-checking program but it exempts politicians' posts and ads from fact-checkers' review.

Twitter, which labels misleading content related to election integrity, said that Trump's Tuesday tweet did not violate its rules and would not be labeled. It said it would not take action on broad, non-specific statements about the integrity of elections or civic processes.

The White House declined to comment.

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