Facebook and Twitter mark Trump post as 'misleading' hours before US election voting opens

US President Donald J. Trump speaks during his final campaign rally before Election Day, at Gerald R. Ford International Airport, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, 02 November 2020. (EPA-EFE)

A post by Donald Trump about alleged election fraud has been marked as misleading by both Facebook and Twitter.

Both the post and the decision came just hours before voting opened in the US presidential election.

Social networks have faced considerable pressure to ensure that their platforms are not used to undermine the process or results of the election, amid fears that results could be unclear for some time and that false information could be spread while voters wait to hear who has won the election.

Both Facebook and Twitter have said they have plans in place to stop their platforms being exploited in such a way, which include adding labels to posts or taking them down entirely.

In the latest post, Mr Trump baselessly claimed that a US Supreme Court decision on mail-in voting in Pennsylvania would lead to "rampant" fraud and was "very dangerous."

Twitter hid the president's tweet behind a label which said the content was "disputed" and "might be misleading."

Trump and his Republican allies have repeatedly said, without evidence, that mail-in votes are prone to fraud, although election experts say that is rare in U.S. elections. Trump's tweet also said the Supreme Court's decision would "induce violence in the streets."

Twitter has labeled or put warnings on tweets from Trump multiple times this year for violating its rules.

Twitter also prevented users from retweeting or replying to the post, allowing only 'quote tweets.' It said the tweets will also not be algorithmically recommended by its systems.

The Election Integrity Partnership, who tweeted that Twitter took action about 40 minutes after Trump's tweet was sent, said would "be wise" to pick up the pace.

"Twitter’€™s action effectively stopped the tweet’™s spread. However, it had already been retweeted 55K+ times and favorited 126K+ times. This is as much or more reach than most other tweets put out by @realDonaldTrump today," the research group tweeted.

The US Supreme Court last week allowed extended deadlines for receiving mail-in ballots in Tuesday's election in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, states pivotal to Trump's re-election chances.

The decision let stand a ruling by Pennsylvania's top court allowing mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day and received up to three days later to be counted.

Facebook added a disclaimer to Trump's post, which had been shared 4,200 times, saying that voting by mail and voting in person have a "history of trustworthiness" in the United States, with voter fraud being extremely rare.

Facebook also labeled a Fox News video posted by Trump in which he talked about "cheating" in Pennsylvania with the same message.

Additional reporting by Reuters