Twitter has stated that recent tweets spreading the conspiracy theory that mailboxes across the country have been locked or removed to suppress mail-in voting does not violate the social media platform’s misinformation policies.
Twitter has recently revealed that a misinformation campaign alleging that mailboxes across the United States are being locked in efforts to suppress mail-in votes does not violate the site’s misinformation policies.
Breitbart News reporter Allum Bokhari recently reported on the misinformation campaign writing:
Former NBA star and vocal leftist Rex Chapman posted a picture earlier today of locked USPS mailboxes in Burbank, California, insinuating that the boxes had been locked recently, calling it a “disgrace and immediate threat to American democracy.”
Chapman also tagged Sen. Mitch McConnell, (R-KY), urging the Senate Majority Leader to take action.
As conservative Twitter users quickly pointed out, the picture Chapman posted was from 2016, when USPS boxes in Burbank were locked due to a surge of thefts.
Despite being called out for his error, Chapman has yet to delete his tweet or issue a clarification. The original tweet has currently accumulated nearly 20,000 retweets and over 39,000 likes.
The locked USPS mailbox meme is spreading rapidly on the platform, with no efforts by Twitter to “fact check” them or halt their spread.
In a recent article, the National Review writes that Twitter informed the publication that the tweets do not violate the platform’s rules. The National Review reports:
Despite the corrections, a Twitter spokesperson told National Review that the viral tweets did not violate the platform’s rules, including its civic integrity policy — which prohibits “misleading information relating to votes not being counted.” Twitter cited the policy when it added a “fact-check” to Trump’s tweets about mail-in ballots, after he claimed that California was sending ballots to “anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there.”
“Per our Civic Integrity policy (https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/election-integrity-policy), the tweets yesterday may mislead people into thinking they don’t need to register to get a ballot (only registered voters receive ballots),” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explained at the time.
Bokhari commented on the hypocrisy Twitter has displayed by refusing to remove or correct the tweets while regularly censoring conservative outlets and commentators:
Twitter has recently censored Breitbart News, Fox News, Donald Trump Jr., and President Trump himself, as well as Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro over alleged misinformation, and also branded a factually valid Trump tweet about the dangers of voter fraud in mail-in voting with a “fact check” label.
Yet it has so far taken no action against a demonstrably false, conspiracy theory fueled panic about USPS mailboxes being locked, a claim that could cause panic and change voter behavior during an election year.
Read more about the situation at Breitbart News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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