Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Tweet all about it! You can now report false voting-related posts

Tweet bubble

Now users may flag misinformation using Twitter's "report tweet" feature.

Roman Stavila/Getty Images

Twitter is now allowing users to report false or misleading information in tweets about voting in this year's election.

The new feature announced Wednesday allows users to flag a tweet that contains misinformation about an election in the same way one might report abusive language — by clicking "Report Tweet."

It's the latest attempt by social media companies to position themselves as a force for good in safeguarding the 2020 campaign against online efforts to suppress the vote or otherwise shape voter behavior through disinformation. For the past four years, the industry has been roundly derided for doing too little before the 2016 election to prevent its platforms from being exploited by Russians and others bent on destabilizing democracy.


The Twitter tool, while brand new to the United States, was available overseas last year ahead of elections in the European Union, Britain and India.

After finding a suspicious tweet, the user is prompted to select whether the tweet contains false information about where or how to register to vote or cast a ballot, has language intended to suppress or intimidate voters, or misrepresents an affiliation with or impersonates a "candidate, elected official, political party, or government entity."

Tweets designed to manipulate or interfere with the election process already violate Twitter's terms of use. Reports submitted through the new tool will be reviewed to see if the suspected tweets violate those rules.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

The company's announcement came the same day Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts announced her plan crack down on online misinformation if elected president.

But the timing of Twitter's rollout and Warren's post is likely coincidental. In April 2019, the company said it intended to offer a misinformation reporting tool ahead of elections overseas and planned to expand the tool to cover "other elections globally throughout the rest of the year."

Twitter reiterated that commitment in a tweet Wednesday. "This tool has been an important aspect of our efforts to protect the health of the Twitter conversation for elections around the globe, including in India, the UK, and across the EU," it said.

The social media platforms have come under heightened governmental scrutiny in recent months. In the fall the Senate Intelligence Committee's comprehensive report on interference in the 2016 election criticized the companies for helping spread disinformation.

Facebook is now banning posts with information designed to mislead or deceive prospective voters — and it too gives users an option to report "incorrect voting info" on a post. YouTube similarly allow users can report election-related misinformation using its system for calling out inappropriate content.

Twitter said in October it was imposing a worldwide ban on political advertising, a move that did not go over well with campaigns in both parties and was criticized as an ultimately insufficient response to the rising wave of political misinformation.

Read More

The Evolving Social Contract: From Common Good to Contemporary Practice

An illustration of hands putting together a puzzle.

Getty Images, cienpies

The Evolving Social Contract: From Common Good to Contemporary Practice

The concept of the common good in American society has undergone a remarkable transformation since the nation's founding. What began as a clear, if contested, vision of collective welfare has splintered into something far more complex and individualistic. This shift reflects changing times and a fundamental reimagining of what we owe each other as citizens and human beings.

The nation’s progenitors wrestled with this very question. They drew heavily from Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who saw the social contract as a sacred covenant between citizens and their government. But they also pulled from deeper wells—the Puritan concept of the covenant community, the classical Republican tradition of civic virtue, and the Christian ideal of serving one's neighbor. These threads wove into something uniquely American: a vision of the common good that balances individual liberty with collective responsibility.

Keep ReadingShow less
We’ve Collectively Created the Federal Education Collapse

Students in a classroom.

Getty Images, Maskot

We’ve Collectively Created the Federal Education Collapse

“If we make money the object of man-training, we shall develop money-makers but not necessarily men.” - W.E.B. Du Bois

The current state of public education has many confused, anxious, and even fearful. Depending on the day, I feel any combination of the above, among other less-than-ideal adjectives. Simply, the future is uncertain. Schools are simultaneously cutting budgets and trying to remain relevant, all during an increasingly tense political climate.

Keep ReadingShow less
Recent Republican policies and proposals limiting legal immigration and legal immigrants' benefits and rights

An oversized gavel surrounded by people.

Getty Images, J Studios

Recent Republican policies and proposals limiting legal immigration and legal immigrants' benefits and rights

In a recent post we quoted a journalist describing the Republican Party as anti-immigration. Many of our readers wrote back angrily to say that the Republican party is only opposed to immigrants who are present illegally.

But that's not true. And we're not shy of telling it like it is.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Importance of Respecting Court Orders
brown wooden chess piece on brown book

The Importance of Respecting Court Orders

The most important question in American politics today is whether Donald Trump will respect court orders. Judges have repeatedly ruled against his administration.

But will he listen?

Keep ReadingShow less