Twitter launches warnings on election misinformation and delays
26 October 2020
Twitter will start pinning notices to the top of all U.S. Twitter users’ timelines warning them that results in next week’s election may be delayed and that they may encounter misinformation on mail-in voting.
Why it matters: Delayed election results are expected across many states that are handling unprecedented amounts of absentee and mailed ballots, which President Trump has baselessly called "very dangerous" and "corrupt."
- Trump warned in an "Axios on HBO" interview that "lots of things can happen" with voting by mail if the presidential race isn't decided on election night. His comments ignore the lengthy history and widespread secure use of mail-in voting.
Zoom in: Both prompts "will link to Twitter Moments that provide more context and compile the latest credible information on the topic from election experts, journalists and other authoritative news sources," Twitter said in a Monday press release.
- Twitter's prompts will be available in 42 languages and appear to everyone with a Twitter account based in the U.S., and when people search for terms, phrases or hashtags related to the election or mail-in ballots.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.