Twitter has warned of accounts that make premature U.S. election calls

TORONTO – Social media accounts that make unconfirmed or untimely calls about the results of the presidential election, shared with President Donald Trump’s campaign, are now being flagged in an attempt to fight off misinformation.

The tweet, from an account called “Political Polls,” began adding labels to tweets announcing a race result on Twitter after Trump was declared the winner in Florida before the candidate announced the final result.

A tweet from an official Trump campaign account also announced Trump’s victory in South Carolina, earning him a warning label from a Twitter reading, “Official factions may not call the race when it is tweeted.”

Other accounts, such as “The Election Wizard”, also attract attention for sharing premature or misleading results.

Shortly after Democratic nominee Joe Biden spoke to an audience at his election headquarters, reassuring supporters that he was in a good position in the race, Trump broke the Twitter silence on his election day by saying, “We are adults, but they are trying to steel the election.”

Within 10 minutes of posting the tweet, Twitter flagged it with the warning label that it could “mislead about elections or other civic process.”

According to Twitter’s civic integrity policy, Prohibits the Website from using its platform to alter or disrupt civil proceedings “by distributing false or misleading information about policies or circumstances surrounding participation in civil proceedings”.

Policy Notes, “In cases where misleading information does not attempt to directly alter or disrupt civic processes, but may lead to confusion in our service, we may label tweets to provide additional context.”

There is also advertising Flagged by Facebook “The final results may differ from the initial vote count, as the ballot count lasts days or weeks.”

Elsewhere on the web, it is reported that thousands of people have been tricked into airing a fake YouTube video showing election night results.

According to Election Integrity Partnership researchers, the video “Live 2020 Presidential Election Results” on a public YouTube channel with more than 650,000 followers is one of Google’s top 5 results for swing level voting. Internal research shows that more than 26,000 people watched the video before it was removed from YouTube for violating community guidelines.

“Before the video was removed, it became one of Google’s most widely circulated videos in Swing States,” the researchers tweeted Tuesday night with Election Integrity Partnership.

“It underscores how platforms struggle with misinformation despite the development of new approaches,” the team said.

CTV News is directly tracking the confirmed election results. You can see the results up to the minute here.