New Delhi: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has defended his company’s action on fact-checking information on the microblogging site.
Dorsey’s reaction came after US President Donald Trump threatened the company with big action that can come in the form of an executive order soon.
Dorsey said that Twitter would continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally.
"Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that's me. Please leave our employees out of this. We'll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make," tweeted Dorsey.
Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. Please leave our employees out of this. We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make.
— jack (@jack) May 28, 2020
Twitter on Tuesday (May 26) labeled two tweets from US President Donald Trump making false statements about mail-in voting as “potentially misleading.” The move is significant becuase Twitter has fact-checked President Trump for the first time.
Twitter imposed the label on two tweets President Trump posted Tuesday morning falsely claiming that “mail-in ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent” and would result in “a rigged election.” The tweets posted by President Trump focused mainly on California’s efforts to expand mail-in voting due to the outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19 in the US. On Sunday, the California Governor Gavin Newsom was sued by Republican National Committee over the state’s moves to expand mail-in voting.
Following this, Trump, announced retaliation is coming in the form of an executive order against the social media companies.
"Stay Tuned!!!" Trump tweeted to his more than 80 million followers on the platform.
Trump has warned social media giants that his government could "strongly regulate" or "close them down" after Twitter fact-checked one of his tweets for the first time.
The Twitter CEO said the action on Trump's tweets does not make them an "arbiter of truth", referring to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg who jumped into the fray, criticising Twitter for flagging tweets by Trump.
This does not make us an “arbiter of truth.” Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves. More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions.
— jack (@jack) May 28, 2020
"Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves. More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions," Dorsey stressed.
Per our Civic Integrity policy (https://t.co/uQ0AoPtoCm), the tweets yesterday may mislead people into thinking they don’t need to register to get a ballot (only registered voters receive ballots). We’re updating the link on @realDonaldTrump’s tweet to make this more clear.
— jack (@jack) May 28, 2020
Notably, President Trump has been attacking Democratic-controlled states like California over the last few days over their efforts to expand mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic.
