Twitter marks presidential victory tweets that lack sources

Twitter requires at least two official sources to declare a winner of the presidential election before it will stop labeling tweets this way.

US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks about election results next to vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Wilmington, Delaware.  (REUTERS)

Twitter is placing labels on tweets that claim victory for either candidate in the US presidential election, until more of the sources it considers official have called the race.

Twitter labeled a recent tweet celebrating a Joe Biden win by Tommy Vietor, the co-host of Pod Save America and a former official in President Barack Obama's administration. “Official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted,” Twitter's warning said. 

The company put the same warning on a tweet by Representative Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, who claimed Donald Trump “won this election.”

Twitter requires at least two official sources to declare a winner of the presidential election before it will stop labeling tweets this way, the company said in a blog post on Friday. Those sources are either announcements from state election officials, or public projections from at least two authoritative, national news outlets that make independent election calls, Twitter said.

The official sources include ABC News, the Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, Decision Desk HQ, Fox News, National Election Pool, NBC News and Reuters.

Facebook on Thursday said it would broadcast the winner to all users on Facebook and Instagram once a majority of official sources call the race.