Common Cause and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Call on Jack Dorsey of Twitter to Stop Disinformation Spread

At this point in the cycle, we must hold those in power accountable, including those who control the sharing of misinformation. Common Cause and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law are calling on CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, to suspend President Donald Trump’s account for his repeated use of the platform to sow distrust in the electoral process and spread false or misleading information. 

For months leading up to the election, President Trump and partisan bad actors were spreading disinformation online to confuse voters about their voting options as well as to create distrust in our democratic processes. 

While social media platforms put some policies in place to mitigate these risks, such as flagging content that is misleading or untrue, and removing some content that poses a risk to voters, it has not been enough. 

We are now past the election and in the process of counting all the votes to determine the winner, it has become clear that this rhetoric is only continuing to stoke the fires of disinformation and put pressure on those that are working to ensure ballots are accurately counted. 

Unfortunately, it has become apparent that President Trump has not been held to the community standards Twitter set forth during the election cycle at a consistent rate and he must be held to account for his actions. 

As election officials continue the count and the American public waits in earnest for the result of their vote, it is up to Twitter and their fellow social platforms to stop the premature victories and detrimental fallacies so election officials can count every vote.