In the spring of 2020, when President Donald J. Trump wrote messages on Twitter warning that increased reliance on mail-in ballots would lead to a “rigged election,” the platform ran a corrective, debunking his claims.

“Get the facts about mail-in voting,” a content label read. “Experts say mail-in ballots are very rarely linked to voter fraud,” the hyperlinked article declared.

This month, Elon Musk, who has since bought Twitter and rebranded it X, echoed several of Mr. Trump’s claims about the American voting system, putting forth distorted and false notions that American elections were wide open for fraud and illegal voting by noncitizens.

This time, there were no fact checks. And the X algorithm — under Mr. Musk’s direct control — helped the posts reach large audiences, in some cases drawing many millions of views.

Since taking control of the site, Mr. Musk has dismantled the platform’s system for flagging false election content, arguing it amounted to election interference.

Archive

  • CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    10 months ago

    but we can still point at people who have been in car accidents, people who have been injured or died from car accidents.

    If no one (or almoast no one) had ever died been in a car accident, including death, injury, or just a fender bender, then carrying insurance or wearing a seatbelt wouldnt be needed.

    If we had evidence of evidence of rampant/widespread voter fraud via mail in ballots, then overhauling or getting rid of the system would be needed.