Uh oh. Donald Trump is in big trouble. Would you look at that? Twitter slapped the president’s hand, fairly hard. And here we thought that no one could hold him accountable for his actions, many corrupt, some possibly illegal.
POTUS tweeted a big old lie, just like he always does. This time he was trying to manipulate the country into submitting to his every whim and throw him the election:
‘Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In (sic) Ballots all over the USA. Must have final total on November 3rd.’
Twitter dinged POTUS big time:
‘Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about how to participate in an election or another civic process. Learn more,’
With an overgrown 10-year-old in the 2016 driver’s seat, we soon learned how much of the U.S. government system was based upon a set of traditions and norms. This president did not even have to break all that many laws to seriously rip the fabric of this centuries-old experiment.
- Honor a subpoena? Nope.
- Testify before Congress? Do not think so.
- Keep the Gang of Eight aware of events. Nah.
Yet, Twitter stood firm against a president who rages in an adult tantrum. After all, it holds the president’s megaphone in its hands and will slam it to the ground if Trump does not shape up. On Monday, Twitter smacked the mega-tweeting president right where it hurt the most — in the tweet. The tweeter-in-chief deleted the false information and only retweeted from that point on, and this is why:
‘Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about how to participate in an election or another civic process. Learn more.’
Okay, it turns out, Twitter has a Civic Integrity Policy refined this month:
‘You may not use Twitter’s services for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes. This includes posting or sharing content that may suppress participation or mislead people about when, where, or how to participate in a civic process. In addition, we may label and reduce the visibility of Tweets containing false or misleading information about civic processes in order to provide additional context.’
So what are the consequences for violating Twitter’s Civic Integrity Policy?
For a first offense, the individual has to delete the tweet. But get this, Donald Trump was temporarily locked out of his Twitter account. No kidding. People are doing the tweet dance all over the country.
If it happens again, Trump has to delete the content and is temporarily locked out. And his account could be permanently suspended.
If Twitter does not delete the content, it may:
- ‘Apply a label and/or warning message to the content where it appears in the Twitter product;
- Show a warning to people before they share or like the content;
- Reduce the visibility of the content on Twitter and/or prevent it from being recommended; and/or
- Provide a link to additional explanations or clarifications, such as in a Twitter Moment or relevant Twitter policies.’
Twitter can also:
‘[T]urn off your ability to reply, Retweet, or like the Tweet. We prioritize producing Twitter Moments in cases where misleading content on Twitter is gaining significant attention and has caused public confusion on our service.’
Repeated violations or those severe enough will result in a permanently suspended account. Well, look at that:
‘The public conversation occurring on Twitter is never more important than during elections and other civic events. Any attempts to undermine the integrity of our service is antithetical to our fundamental rights and undermines the core tenets of freedom of expression, the value upon which our company is based.’
Twitter explained its responsibilities:
‘We believe we have a responsibility to protect the integrity of those conversations from interference and manipulation. Therefore, we prohibit attempts to use our services to manipulate or disrupt civic processes, including through the distribution of false or misleading information about the procedures or circumstances around participation in a civic process. In instances where misleading information does not seek to directly manipulate or disrupt civic processes, but leads to confusion on our service, we may label the Tweets to give additional context.’
A civic process is “events or procedures mandated, organized, and conducted by the governing and/or electoral body of a country, state, region, district, or municipality to address a matter of common concern through public participation.”
This process could turn up in political elections, censuses, and/or major referenda and ballot initiatives.
So how is this policy violated?
‘This policy addresses 4 categories of misleading behavior and content:
- Misleading information about how to participate
- Suppression and intimidation
- Misleading information about outcomes
- False or misleading affiliation’
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order
