Twitter slow to act on misleading U.S. election content, experts say

Before Tuesday, both Musk and Twitter's head of safety and integrity, Yoel Roth, tweeted that the company would uphold and enforce its election integrity policies through the midterms

Election experts reported the spread of new falsehoods across Twitter and other social media services on Tuesday as Americans voted in midterm elections, four days after Twitter Inc. fired half its staff and new owner Elon Musk tweeted a recommendation to vote for Republican candidates.

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The nonpartisan watchdog group Common Cause, which monitors social media for voter suppression efforts, said that Twitter took no action on high-profile posts that the organisation flagged on Tuesday as problematic.

The U.S. congressional elections posed a fresh test for social media companies, which for years have struggled to balance free expression against amplifying potentially harmful commentary. Though company policies enable them to restrict misinformation, enforcement has been spotty, and the recent upheaval at Twitter has put it under particular scrutiny.

Voices on the right sought on social media on Tuesday to falsely blame Democrats for voting glitches reported in some places.

Common Cause said Twitter posts from Republican candidates Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kari Lake should have included warning labels under the company's civic integrity policy, which governs misleading tweets about elections. Posts by Greene and Lake drew tens of thousands of likes and retweets on Twitter.

Common Cause also noted a "big slowdown" in Twitter's response time since Friday, when layoffs gutted many of the company's teams responsible for elevating credible information.