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- Twitter labeled four more of President Donald Trump’s tweets as “disputed” and potentially “misleading” overnight Thursday.
- In response, Trump tweeted Friday morning that Twitter was “out of control.”
- He added that Section 230 — a law that gives social media companies the ability to moderate their platforms — was a “government gift.” Trump wants the law repealed.
- Twitter, as it has with numerous Trump tweets since Election Day, blocked users from retweeting Trump’s post, allowing only a quote-tweet.
- Trump’s tweets included clips of him claiming, without evidence, that “illegal votes” could “steal” the election.
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President Donald Trump claimed Friday morning that Twitter was “out of control,” after the social media platform labeled four more of his election tweets as “disputed” and potentially “misleading” overnight.
Within five hours starting Thursday night, Twitter labeled four of Trump’s tweets and stopped users from retweeting them, saying that “some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.”
Twitter has put the same label on numerous tweets by Trump since Election Day on Tuesday. Users can still “quote tweet” the posts, sharing them provided they add their own comment.
Three of the labeled tweets were clips of an address from the White House on Thursday night in which Trump ranted about polling, said he’d won the election despite trailing Joe Biden, and made an unfounded accusation that the election was being stolen from him. Networks cut away from the address.
In the tweet claiming Twitter was “out of control,” Trump added that Section 230 — a law that gives social-media sites the ability to moderate content on their platforms — was a “government gift.”
Trump called for the law to be repealed in early October.
—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2020
His tweet came hours before Joe Biden overtook Trump in Georgia, a key battleground state.
In the first clip Twitter labeled overnight, Trump said that "illegal votes" could "steal the election from us." In the second clip, he said: "We'll never allow the corruption to steal such an important election."
And in the third, he asserted, without evidence, that Detroit and Philadelphia were "two of the most corrupt political places anywhere in our country," adding that Democrats in Pennsylvania were "trying obviously to commit fraud."
In the fourth labeled tweet, sent early Friday, Trump wrote that he would "easily" win if only "legal" votes were counted, adding that "votes accepted during this period must be determined to be ILLEGAL VOTES."
Counting votes in the days after Election Day is a normal part of the democratic process.
A Twitter spokesperson told Business Insider: "We placed a warning on these Tweets for making potentially misleading claims about the election process. This action is in line with our Civic Integrity Policy, and as is standard with this warning, we will significantly restrict engagements on these Tweets."
"Our teams continue to monitor Tweets that attempt to spread misleading information relating to the election. We will remain vigilant and continue working to protect the integrity of the election conversation on Twitter," they added.
The social media site also labeled five of Trump's tweets "disputed" and potentially "misleading" on Wednesday, when he wrote about Michigan's vote count and "ballot dumps."
Read more: Trump campaign says all 'legally cast ballots' will show a Trump victory
Democrats and Republicans have largely agreed that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act needs to be revised.
The CEOs of Facebook, Google, and Twitter attended a virtual Senate hearing on October 28 about Section 230. During the hearing, Republicans focused on the tech firms' steps to fact-check false claims posted by Trump, which Republicans said suggested censorship.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg warned that stripping back Section 230 could harm free expression — Dorsey said specifically that it could "collapse how we communicate on the Internet."