Following successes in several states, President Trump refrained from prematurely claiming victory on social media, as some platforms anticipated—however, he did raise unsubstantiated concerns regarding potential voter irregularities.

“We are performing exceptionally well, but there are attempts to invalidate the Election,” Trump posted on Twitter. “We will not allow this to happen. Ballots should not be accepted after the conclusion of voting hours!”

Twitter responded swiftly to the tweet, placing it behind a notice and applying a label identifying it as containing misinformation. The company clarified its decision in a tweet, explaining that the President’s message included a “potentially inaccurate assertion regarding the election.” As of midnight Pacific Time, the outcome of the presidential election remained uncertain, with both candidates maintaining viable routes to winning the presidency.

https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1323868590047744000

Although the President’s statement is somewhat open to interpretation, the tweet once again seems to challenge the legitimacy of ballots submitted by mail. Given that mail-in ballots were anticipated to be tallied gradually in certain states, a delay in the final vote count was expected and does not suggest any issues with the accuracy of the vote tabulation process.

The substantial increase in mail-in voting due to the pandemic led to expectations of more ambiguous results on election night in 2020 compared to previous years, and this has largely been the case so far. In the months leading up to November, social media companies developed new policies to address the unique circumstances of the 2020 election and the associated risk of widespread misinformation.

Twitter also announced in a September policy update that it would remove or label any posts that encourage illegal activities and undermine a “peaceful transfer of power or orderly succession.” While posts restricted by Twitter remain visible, they are accompanied by a warning message that users must acknowledge before viewing the content. Furthermore, restricted posts have their sharing, liking, and commenting features disabled, thereby limiting their distribution.

On Facebook, where a significant amount of Trump’s Twitter content is shared, his message received a label informing users that initial election night results may differ from the final, certified results, but the post was not otherwise subject to restrictions. In a statement, Facebook spokesperson Tom Reynolds explained that the post was labeled shortly after being published “consistent with the policies we communicated prior to Election Day.”

The company also applied a comparable label to another late-night post from Trump proclaiming “I will be making a statement tonight. A big WIN!” Facebook had previously stated its intention to label any posts asserting a premature victory with an informational message directing users to official election results.

Update – 12:10AM PT: 

After delivering remarks in which he incorrectly claimed to have won the election, Facebook announced it would begin displaying messages to users on Facebook and Instagram indicating that “votes are still being counted and a winner has not been projected.”