--- title: Facebook and Twitter Face Their Big Test on Election Day description: Facebook and Twitter have spent months rolling out increasingly aggressive policies meant to curb the spread of misinformation, possible voter suppression and calls for violence. canonical: https://time.com/5906854/facebook-twitter-election-day/ author: Vera Bergengruen article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-11-03T18:04:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:07:57.982Z article:section: Politics og:title: Facebook and Twitter Face Their Big Test on Election Day og:description: Facebook and Twitter have spent months rolling out increasingly aggressive policies meant to curb the spread of misinformation, possible voter suppression and calls for violence. og:url: https://time.com/5906854/facebook-twitter-election-day/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d80f1da0798d778/698a13b6e76ad26331638404/social-media-elections.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: A man wearing a face mask walks past a Twitter logo outside og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Facebook and Twitter Face Their Big Test on Election Day twitter:description: Facebook and Twitter have spent months rolling out increasingly aggressive policies meant to curb the spread of misinformation, possible voter suppression and calls for violence. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d80f1da0798d778/698a13b6e76ad26331638404/social-media-elections.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 08:47 video:published: 2020-09-30 section: politics topics: 2020 election, mail-in voting, election misinformation, domestic misinformation, Postal Service changes, voter suppression concerns, social media moderation, red mirage, vote counting delays, poll worker shortages genre: explainer, news analysis tones: analytical, cautionary, informative, skeptical emotions: concern (medium), skepticism (medium), reassurance (low) sentiment: negative audience: voters, election-watchers, policy-minded readers, general news audiences people: Donald Trump, Louis DeJoy, Hillary Clinton organizations: Russia, Twitter, Facebook, US Postal Service, Black Lives Matter content_suitability: politics [00:00-08:47]; hate [01:20-02:06]; health controversy [05:46-06:07] transcript_source: automatic transcription transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # Under Scrutiny, Facebook and Twitter Face Their Biggest Test on Election Day > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=738e5014-d884-4950-96b3-48aa688faf14&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Election 2020: What Voters Do (and Don’t) Need to Worry About [Watch (HLS stream): Election 2020: What Voters Do (and Don’t) Need to Worry About](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/n5H3s06X.m3u8) (8:47)  _Published 2020-09-30. Election 2020: What Voters Do (and Don’t) Need to Worry About_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video examines claims about the 2020 US election, including President Trump's assertions that mail-in voting is rife with fraud and that the election will be rigged. It contrasts these with the speakers' view that domestic misinformation, rather than foreign interference, is the main concern this year, and discusses how sheriffs and law enforcement at polls could deter voters. It also covers Postal Service changes under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, the role of social media platforms in moderating false claims, and why results may take days to finalize in some states. ## Key points - The speaker says none of the claim that the election will be rigged or that mail voting is rife with fraud is true. (00:28) - Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many states have expanded eligibility for mail-in ballots this year. (00:36) - The speaker says the USPS handles more mail at Christmas than the expected surge in ballots. (00:42) - In 2016, Russia targeted African American voters by impersonating Black Lives Matter activists and creating fake profiles, while in 2020 the misinformation is described as domestic. (01:20) - The speaker says the president's claim about sending sheriffs and law enforcement to polls may deter some voters even though it doesn't have to be true to have an impact. (02:06) - Twitter has attached warnings with real voting information to false claims, including Trump's tweets, while Facebook has done much less. (02:41) - Postmaster General Louis DeJoy implemented cost-cutting measures in May, including reports of eliminated overtime and removed sorting machines, before suspending them after a month. (04:44) - Some analysts describe a red mirage, where election-day votes favor Trump but mail ballots counted later favor Democrats, and the speaker says this does not mean anything bad is happening. (07:43) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 01:13] Trump's claims about mail voting fraud. Trump's claims that the election will be rigged and that mail-in voting is fraudulent are presented and disputed, with the expansion of mail ballots due to the pandemic explained. - [01:13 to 02:06] Domestic versus foreign misinformation. The speakers contrast Russian interference in 2016 with domestic misinformation in 2020, including targeting of African American voters. - [02:06 to 02:54] Law enforcement at polls and platform moderation. The president's suggestion of sending sheriffs to polls is discussed as a possible deterrent, followed by a comparison of how Twitter and Facebook have handled false claims. - [02:54 to 04:08] Mail ballot fraud claims and partisan benefit. Examples of misinformation about mail ballots are described, and the speaker notes that Republicans have benefited most from mail-in ballots in some states. - [04:08 to 05:10] Postal Service changes and poll worker shortages. Election officials face shortages and funding needs, and changes at the USPS under Louis DeJoy raise concerns about mail ballot delivery. - [05:10 to 06:07] DeJoy's donations and voter safety. DeJoy's political donations and his ties to Trump are discussed, and the speaker argues vote by mail is reliable and helps keep voters safe from COVID-19. - [06:07 to 07:03] Practical steps for voters. Voters are advised to check registration, request absentee ballots early, and vote as soon as they know their choice, with election day described as the end of a longer period. - [07:03 to 08:47] Concession fears and counting delays. Concerns that Trump might not concede are raised, along with the red mirage effect and state rules that delay counting, explaining why results may take days. ## Key quotes - [00:28] interviewer: "to be clear, none of that is true." - [01:20] interviewer: "It's domestic misinformation." - [02:32] interviewer: "It doesn't have to be true for it to have an impact on the election." - [05:46] interviewer: "Vote by mail is totally reliable and secure and election officials are really trying to drill down on that." - [07:57] interviewer: "just because we don't know who won on election night does not mean anything bad is happening." ## Questions this video answers - Are claims that mail-in voting is rife with fraud accurate? [00:11] - How does domestic misinformation in 2020 differ from Russian interference in 2016? [00:51] - Can sheriffs and law enforcement at polls affect voter turnout even without legal authority? [02:06] - How have Twitter and Facebook responded to false claims about voting? [02:41] - Why might it take several days to know who won the election? [07:57] ## Content suitability - politics [00:00-08:47]: Entire video concerns the 2020 US presidential election, including claims about candidates and parties. - hate [01:20-02:06]: Discussion of foreign impersonation of Black Lives Matter activists and targeting of African American voters with misinformation. - health controversy [05:46-06:07]: Mentions the coronavirus pandemic and voter exposure to COVID-19 in the context of voting methods.  by [Vera Bergengruen](https://time.com/author/vera-bergengruen/)  ## Vera Bergengruen Nov 3, 2020 6:04 PM UTC Election 2020: What Voters Do (and Don’t) Need to Worry About  by [Vera Bergengruen](https://time.com/author/vera-bergengruen/)  ## Vera Bergengruen Nov 3, 2020 6:04 PM UTC Four years after Russia leveraged social media to mount an extensive influence campaign in the 2016 U.S. election, what happens on Nov. 3 will test technology companies’ much-touted new safeguards to block both foreign and domestic actors from causing chaos on their platforms. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media companies have spent months rolling out increasingly aggressive policies meant to curb the[ spread of misinformation](https://time.com/5887438/trump-mail-in-voting/), possible voter suppression and [calls for ](https://time.com/5902731/trump-poll-watchers/)violence. But all of this preparation is unlikely to matter unless they’re able to effectively enforce them in the rising tension of Election Day and its aftermath. Given the unprecedented number of Americans who voted by mail, there are likely to be delays before the presidential winner and other down-ballot races are officially declared. Technology companies have spent a lot of time planning for a number of scenarios that could unfold in that gap: if a candidate prematurely declares victory, if misinformation fuels civil unrest, or if there are calls for violence. Social media executives are clearly aware of the stakes. This election “will certainly be a test for Facebook,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last week on the company’s quarterly earnings call. “Election integrity is and will be an ongoing challenge…I’m worried that with our nation so divided, and election results potentially taking days or weeks to be finalized, there’s a risk of civil unrest across the country.” Facebook announced and subsequently fine-tuned a number of policy changes in recent months. It has banned calls for coordinated interference at polling stations, including calls to bring weapons to these sites. It also said that it would ban posts that use “militarized language” meant to intimidate voters, including words like “army” or “battle,” vice president of content policy Monika Bickert told reporters in early October. This came after the president’s son, Don Jr., was featured in campaign videos calling for “every able-bodied man and woman to join Army for Trump’s election security operation” to “defend their ballots.” All of these new policies also apply to Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. The company also said it would stop accepting new political ads a week before the election, and that it would ban all political ads indefinitely after Nov. 3\. Since early October, Facebook has displayed voting information at the top of users’ feeds, including state-specific details for how to vote safely. Facebook has also discussed the possibility of taking more drastic emergency measures, including suppressing inflammatory posts as it has done in countries like Sri Lanka and Myanmar, [according to ](https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-prepares-measures-for-possible-election-unrest-11603651659)the Wall Street Journal. Twitter, which has long been President Trump’s top communication platform, also rolled out more specific policies ahead of the election. Political Twitter users with more than 100,000 followers will be subject to “additional warnings and restrictions” if they spread false information, by, for example, getting a warning label that requires followers to tap through another screen to read them. The platform will label any tweets by political candidates who try to claim victory before the results have officially been called for both presidential and congressional races. Users will be directed to Twitter’s main election page, with the latest information from verified sources. It will also remove any tweets that encourage election interference or intimidation, as well as any that seem to incite violence, according to Twitter spokesperson Nicholas Pacilio. Some of these changes apply to regular Twitter users as well. In the week before the election, Twitter added an extra step to retweet, or share, a post, asking users to add their thoughts or read the article before sharing, a move designed to slow down the spread of misinformation. Similarly, YouTube has said it will remove any content meant to interfere with voting, for example any videos “telling viewers to create long voting lines with the purpose of making it harder for others to vote.” It says it will remove any “content that has been technically manipulated or doctored in a way that misleads users and may pose a serious risk of egregious harm,” as well as content that contains “hacked information about a political candidate shared with the intent to interfere in an election.” Despite all of their new policies, these companies will be under enormous pressure to justify any move to restrict or remove political content. In the months before the election, Trump and Republican allies stepped up their attacks on “Big Tech,” who they have long accused of censoring conservative viewpoints, including holding several congressional hearings about their alleged bias. This escalated when Facebook and Twitter began to label—and even remove— some of the president’s own posts for violating their new guidelines on spreading election or COVID-19 misinformation. “This is election interference at the hands of the Silicon Valley Mafia, and it is dangerous for our democracy,” Trump deputy national press secretary Samantha Zager said in a statement last week, after Facebook removed Trump campaign ads that violated its new policies. She has previously accused Twitter’s new guidelines of “attempting to silence voters and elected officials to influence our election.” So far, however, the platforms have made it clear that they mean business. On the eve of the election, both Facebook and Twitter added a warning label on one of Trump’s posts which called the Supreme Court’s decision to allow Pennsylvania officials to count ballots postmarked by Election Day “a VERY dangerous one” which would “allow rampant and unchecked cheating.” Twitter marked it as “misleading,” and under its new guidelines prevented users from replying to or liking the tweet. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5906854/facebook-twitter-election-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5906854/facebook-twitter-election-day/"},"headline":"Under Scrutiny, Facebook and Twitter Face Their Biggest Test on Election Day","datePublished":"2020-11-03T18:04:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-14T09:07:57.982Z","description":"Facebook and Twitter have spent months rolling out increasingly aggressive policies meant to curb the spread of misinformation, possible voter suppression and calls for violence.","url":"https://time.com/5906854/facebook-twitter-election-day/","keywords":["2020 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d80f1da0798d778/698a13b6e76ad26331638404/social-media-elections.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Vera Bergengruen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/vera-bergengruen/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d80f1da0798d778/698a13b6e76ad26331638404/social-media-elections.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A man wearing a face mask walks past a Twitter logo outside","caption":"A man wearing a face mask walks past a Twitter logo outside","creditText":"John Nacion—SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/2020-election/","name":"2020 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5906854/facebook-twitter-election-day/","name":"Under Scrutiny, Facebook and Twitter Face Their Biggest Test on Election Day"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Election 2020: What Voters Do (and Don’t) Need to Worry About","description":"Election 2020: What Voters Do (and Don’t) Need to Worry About","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/n5H3s06X/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-09-30T21:56:10.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/n5H3s06X.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5906854/facebook-twitter-election-day/","duration":"PT8M47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5906854/facebook-twitter-election-day/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```