Twitter to expand rules against misinformation on mail-in ballots, early voting

Twitter said late on Wednesday it plans to expand its rules against misinformation regarding mail-in ballots and early voting in the US elections this year.

The move, reported earlier by Politico and confirmed by a Twitter executive, will involve coming up with new policies “that emphasise accurate information about all available options to vote, including by mail and early voting.”

“Ahead of the 2020 US Election, we’re focused on empowering every eligible person to register and vote through partnerships, tools and new policies,” Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, Twitter’s vice president for public policy in the Americas, told Reuters in an email.

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The social media platform also said it would roll out measures on new tools, policies, and voting resources in the next month.

Twitter said it is exploring how to expand its “civic integrity policies” to address mischaracterisations of mail-in voting and other procedures, including registration. The finer details of the step are still being finalised.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that voting by mail, which is expected to increase dramatically this fall due to coronavirus outbreak, is susceptible to large-scale fraud.

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Voting by mail is not new in the United States nearly one in four voters cast 2016 presidential ballots that way.

Routine methods and the decentralized nature of US elections make it very hard to interfere with mailed ballots, experts say.

Late last month, Facebook Inc placed a “voting info” label on a post by Trump that said mail-in voting would lead to a “CORRUPT ELECTION.”