Google, Twitter Announce New Measures Against US Election Disinformation

By Staff, Agencies

Google and Twitter announced new measures and content rules that will be put in place ahead of the November 3 presidential vote in the United States.

To prevent voter manipulation and misinformation, Twitter said in a blog post Thursday, it will crack down on "misleading information intended to undermine public confidence in an election or other civic process."

The items slated for labeling or removal will include "false or misleading" information on how a specific civic process is conducted and "disputed claims" that question its credibility -- including "unverified" claims of "election rigging" and "ballot tampering."

"Misleading" claims in regards to the outcome of the vote will also be in the company's sights, as the results this year could be declared officially with a delay due to an uptick in mail-in votes, a matter of public debate in the US, with Republicans sounding alarm over possible fraud.

Calls to engage in "unlawful" activities in a bid to prevent a presidential transition will be taken down as well.

Google, in its turn, said Thursday that it would change its auto-complete feature, which suggests the users various options when they are typing in a search request, to prevent voters from being misled.

Incorrect information on the outcome of the vote will not show up in the search results, the company said.