Twitter flags Trump's claim that challengers are trying to 'STEAL' the election
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Twitter flagged Pres. Donald Trump's first Election Night tweet, citing concerns that it contains disinformation.
On Tuesday night, while many states were still knee-deep in vote-counting—and with hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots uncounted in some—Trump declared big margins and claimed his opposition was trying to "steal" the election.
“We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!” the tweet reads.
Twitter affixed a label to the tweet, saying, “Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.”
A Twitter spokesperson told NBC News the flagging was within its policies regarding declaring a premature victory because, "It's unclear what is being referenced by a big WIN!"
Facebook took similar measures for posts containing the claims.
Shortly after tweeting the claim, Trump spoke from the White House, where he echoed the sentiment of his tweet, saying, "As far as I'm concerned, we have already won."
Trump also claimed to have won in states like Georgia and North Carolina, both of which have not been called for either candidate.
Based on the number of uncounted mail-in ballots—and number of overall voters, period—it's unlikely the presidential race will be called as quickly as usual.
