Twitter fact-checks the President’s tweets, igniting a firestorm over the balance between self-regulation of misinformation and the encroachment on the open environment we’ve all come to expect on social media platforms.
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Yesterday, the President continued his blitz against mail-in ballot initiatives with a two-tweet thread claiming they would be substantially fraudulent:Â
….living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one. That will be followed up with professionals telling all of these people, many of whom have never even thought of voting before, how, and for whom, to vote. This will be a Rigged Election. No way!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
Twitter, who has come under fire before for allowing President Trump to use their service as an unchecked platform for disinformation, made waves for placing a fact-check attachment to both of these tweets, the first time they’ve been willing to do so. (note: view the tweets on Twitter.com or in the Twitter app to see the fact-check attachment)
This action was cheered by many as a welcome sign of self-accountability from a social media service that rarely takes responsibility for the content their platform amplifies. But President Trump and his most avid supporters are, not surprisingly, outraged that the President’s tweets have received what they perceive as an underhanded slander.Â
The situation reflects the growing conflict between two competing narratives about social media. On the one hand, some feel social media platforms have routinely silenced conservative voices and messages and have demonstrated a clear bias on behalf of left-leaning content. On the other hand, some recognize the way healthy national dialogue has been corrupted by the use of social media platforms to amplify fake news, clickbait, and misinformation.Â
Social media companies like Facebook and Twitter have long been struggling to find ways to take accountability for the messages propagated on their platforms while still maintaining an open environment for differing perspectives and viewpoints.Â
They face a difficult situation as they try to avoid government regulation in response to a failure to self-regulate while at the same time trying to prevent government regulation in response to a perceived bias that silences free speech.Â
Of course, we could all help maintain a culture of both free speech and fact-driven dialogue by expecting and demanding honest and thoughtful rhetoric from ourselves and those we follow.Â
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