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Twitter labeled Trump tweets with a fact check for the first time

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 22: U.S. President Donald Trump makes a statement in the briefing room at the White House on May 22, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Trump announced news CDC guidelines that churches and places of worship are essential and must reopen now. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

(CNN) — For the first time, Twitter has labeled a tweet from President Donald Trump as misleading.

On Tuesday, the social media company highlighted two of Trump’s tweets that falsely claimed mail-in ballots would lead to widespread voter fraud.


“Get the facts about mail-in ballots,” read a message beneath each tweet. It linked to a fact-check page the platform had created filled with further links and summaries of news articles debunking the assertion.

Twitter said the move was aimed at providing “context” around Trump’s remarks. But Twitter’s unprecedented move is likely to raise further questions about its willingness to consistently apply the label to other Trump tweets that have been deemed misleading by third parties, particularly as the president has lobbed baseless allegations against former Rep. Joe Scarborough regarding the death of a congressional staffer years ago.

Twitter said Tuesday that Trump’s tweets about mail-in voting did not violate the company’s rules because they don’t explicitly discourage people from voting. But, the company said, the label offers context surrounding Trump’s claims.

“These Tweets (here and here) contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labeled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots,” Twitter spokesperson Katie Rosborough told CNN Business in an email. “This decision is in line with the approach we shared earlier this month.”

Rosborough confirmed that this marks the first instances in which Twitter has labeled any Trump tweet as misleading.

The company did not immediately respond to questions about who assembled the fact-checking page or whether it was algorithmically generated.

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