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.

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  • Shake747@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    5 months ago

    There’s still the open version of fact checking: community notes

    What are the facts about this? That it doesn’t happen…that often?

    There’s no real time enforcement for it to mean anything. The votes are tallied in real time, and a winner is announced, then months to years later people (who are caught) are prosecuted?

    Can someone point out why mail in voting with no ID is a good thing? I’m genuinely curious

    • Nero@sopuli.xyz
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      5 months ago

      Oh wow, your comment history is almost entirely defending Elon Musk. That must be exhausting.

    • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      If you’re still “genuinely curious” about the voter ID issue that has been discussed to death for nearly five years, please do yourself a favor and stay away from any political discussions.

    • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Community notes aren’t going to be useful if anybody with an IQ above room temperature has already left the platform.