Twitter slaps warning label on Andrew Yang, Stacey Abrams tweets prematurely declaring victory in GA runoff
A Twitter spokesperson told Fox News that the tweet violated company policy.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Twitter on Tuesday flagged former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang's and former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams' tweets for prematurely declaring Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won the Georgia Senate runoffs.
"We won both seats!!! Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen!!!" Yang tweeted Tuesday at 10:50 p.m. "The first order of business should be getting $2000 cash relief checks out to everyone!"
The Senate races, pitting appointed Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler against Warnock and GOP incumbent Sen. David Perdue against Ossoff, had not yet been called.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Twitter flagged the tweet with a label stating: "Multiple sources may not have called the race when this was Tweeted."
Shortly after, Abrams tweeted: "Congratulations to our next U.S. Senator,@ReverendWarnock. Last January, I endorsed my dear friend in his quest to serve. Soon, he will walk those august halls & cast votes as a leader with courage, justice and integrity. God bless you and keep you in your service to us all."
Twitter also slapped the same label--"Multiple sources may not have called the race when this was Tweeted"--on Abrams' tweet.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FLASHBACK: TWITTER MARKS 12 TRUMP TWEETS AS 'MISLEADING' IN 60 HOURS
A Twitter spokesperson told Fox News Tuesday that their policy on "premature claims of victory" determined that Yang’s tweet would be labeled, noting that "two authoritative sources have not yet called the particular race."
The spokesperson told Fox News that their approach Tuesday night is similar to that used during the general election in November, noting that they consider "official sources for election results" to be state election officials and national news outlets that have dedicated, independent decision desks.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Those news outlets, according to the spokesperson, include: ABC News, Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, Decision Desk HQ, Fox News, National Election Pool, NBC News and Reuters.
TWITTER FLAGS TWEETS FROM DEMOCRATS CLAIMING PREMATURE PRESIDENTIAL VICTORY
The Twitter spokesperson told Fox News that, in order to preserve resources, only tweets that come from accounts with more than 100,000 followers or with engagement—retweets or likes—of more than 25,000 would be eligible for a warning label.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Twitter’s actions come amid complaints that the social media giant only censors users with conservative viewpoints.
In November, Twitter flagged a number of tweets from Democrats and those on the left who prematurely claimed Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential race.
Twitter has also flagged dozens of tweets posted by President Trump as misleading since Election Day.