New rules prevent candidates from declaring a premature victory and block calls for violence and electoral disruption.
Twitter will prevent political candidates from declaring an early victory, make it difficult for users to spread misinformation, and block calls for violence on its platform in the days leading up to and after the November 3rd US election.
In a statement on Friday, the social media platform said it would remove tweets inciting violence or asking people to disrupt voting results.
It also flagged tweets falsely claiming a candidate won and instead directed users to the official US election results page.
“To determine the results of an election in the US, we need either an announcement from state election officials or a public projection from at least two relevant national news outlets that conduct independent election interviews,” the company said in a statement.
Beginning October 20, users who wish to retweet posts that contain misinformation will be encouraged to point out credible information on the topic before retweeting it as well.
The move is intended to encourage people to pause and think, the company said, and potentially slowed retweets of misleading information, which is often a problem on the platform and raises concerns ahead of the hotly contested presidential election.
Tweets from U.S. politicians and U.S. accounts with more than 100,000 followers containing misleading information will also come with warnings and restrictions, the company said.
“People have to tap an alert to see these tweets and then only can quote tweets. Likes, retweets and replies will be turned off, and these tweets are not algorithmically recommended by Twitter, ”it said.
“We believe this will further reduce the visibility of misleading information and encourage people to reconsider whether to amplify these tweets.”
The changes to Twitter come a day after Facebook announced similar new restrictions ahead of the election, which is less than three weeks away. Early voting has already started in some states.
Social media companies have introduced stricter restrictions because they have criticized the fact that they could not better combat misinformation on their platforms and protect against interference in previous election processes.
Trump’s campaign and his Republican allies have made renewed efforts to contest the electoral process and question the integrity of postal voting.
Trump has also refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses, despite both parties declining his comments and promising a peaceful transition.
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