Twitter Takes Action Against Trump Supporters Resharing Restricted 'Steal the Election' Tweet

Twitter has taken against Trump supporters resharing a post that was previously flagged for containing potentially misleading election claims.

The social network placed a notice on a tweet from the president earlier today that had falsely suggested he was "up big" and accused his opponents of trying to "steal the election," prompting Trump supporters to re-share the post word-for-word.

A Twitter spokesperson told Newsweek via email today that the platform had "labeled a number" of tweets that were re-circulating the president's claims. Critics of the move accused the Jack Dorsey-led platform of suppression and censorship.

"Everyone must tweet what [Donald Trump] did before getting suppressed by Twitter. Copy and paste his tweet," wrote Raheem Kassam, who is a co-host of the "War Room" podcast, a show spearheaded by former Trump advisor Steve Bannon.

Kassam's post has now been hidden by Twitter using the same notice that was placed on the president's update. "Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process," it reads.

Trump's flagged claims were also posted verbatim by San Francisco Republican Party chair John Dennis, Republican physician and activist Milton Wolf, well-followed account Veteran For Trump and the RSBNetwork, a Trump-aligned broadcasting project.

While Dennis's post was not removed or covered, a disclosure was added to the update that read: "Official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted."

As ballot counting continues, Trump's baseless assertion that his opponents are trying to "steal the election" was also used in a campaign email blast sent out today.

When asked to clarify its position on the fresh spread of Trump's policy-breaking claims by unrelated accounts, a Twitter spokesperson sent Newsweek the same statement that was previously released to explain why the president's post was flagged.

"We placed a warning on this Tweet for making a potentially misleading claim about an election. This action is in line with our Civic Integrity Policy, and as is standard with this warning, we will significantly restrict engagements on this Tweet," it read.

The civic integrity policy, updated last month, says that it is against Twitter's rules to use the social network "for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections."

The Twitter rules explain: "This includes posting or sharing content that may suppress participation or mislead people about when, where, or how to participate in a civic process. We may label and reduce the visibility of Tweets containing false or misleading information about civic processes in order to provide additional context."

In the wake of Twitter's Trump notice, Facebook confirmed that it had also taken action after the president prematurely claimed victory in the 2020 election.

A spokesperson said in a statement shared with Newsweek via email today: "We started running top-of-feed notifications on Facebook and Instagram so that everyone knows votes are still being counted and the winner has not been projected. We also started applying labels to both candidates' posts automatically with this information."