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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  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    “It’s worked without any problems for 25 years” is not good enough? Why? How many more years does it need to work without any fraud for you to accept that it is not an issue? 40 years? 80 years? 150 years?

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        So there’s no evidence of fraud, there’s no indication of fraud, there’s no mechanism for fraud because of the way it is done, but you want it to be scrapped because maybe possibly fraud?

        That makes absolutely no sense.

        • Shake747@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          9 months ago

          I’ve never been in a car accident, but I still have insurance and put on a seatbelt. Precautions, ya know?

          By your election logic, I’ve been good for 20+ years and shouldn’t need either of those

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Maybe you don’t understand how voting by mail works in Oregon.

            The person registers to vote. They give their specific name and address. During the election, the ballot is sent to that specific person at that specific address. The person votes, signs the back, and mails it back.

            Where in that scenario do you envision the fraud to be able to occur? Specifically.

          • Hasuris@sopuli.xyz
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            9 months ago

            Your example doesn’t make any sense. You’ve never been in an accident but accidents happen all the time to people. That’s why you put on a seat belt. People die everyday.

            Now point out election frauds happening because of mail voting. Hard evidence

          • AnonTwo@kbin.social
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            9 months ago

            You’ve never been in a car accident, but car accidents do happen, and frequently enough that there’s still a very good chance it will one day effect you.

            The same is not true for your election logic.

          • CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca
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            9 months ago

            but we can still point at people who have been in car accidents, people who have been injured or died from car accidents.

            If no one (or almoast no one) had ever died been in a car accident, including death, injury, or just a fender bender, then carrying insurance or wearing a seatbelt wouldnt be needed.

            If we had evidence of evidence of rampant/widespread voter fraud via mail in ballots, then overhauling or getting rid of the system would be needed.

      • CanadianCorhen@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        “here’s a road, there have been no accidents on it for 25 years. I’m saying, without proof, that its icy and we need to rip the road out. not to rebuild it, not fix it by spreading sand or salt, just tear it out.”