Facebook flip-flops on US election rules: First, it said it wouldn’t label posts declaring premature victory in individual states, but now it says it will

• Facebook said Wednesday that it would not flag posts prematurely declaring victory in individual states for the US presidential election.
• It would only flag posts that applied to the overall election result, Facebook said.
• But later the same day, it backtracked, and it said it would start flagging posts prematurely declaring victory in individual states.
• The labels on these posts remind users that votes are still being counted, and that the result in a state has not been projected.
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Facebook has flip-flopped on its rules about posting claims of a premature election victory in individual US states.

The company said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal Wednesday that it wouldn’t flag candidates, or anyone else, who declares victory in individual states before all the votes are counted. It would only flag posts about the overall election, it said.

But later the same day, Facebook tweeted that it was extending its policy on premature victory claims to “individuals who declare premature victory in individual states or overall.”

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, tweeted: “It’s critical that people have accurate information about elections results.” When contacted by Business Insider, Facebook directed us to that tweet.

—Adam Mosseri 😷 (@mosseri) November 4, 2020

Read more: Facebook’s ad ban is now in force ahead of Election Day. Democratic operatives call it ‘a PR stunt’ that won’t stop disinformation but could hurt down-ballot candidates.

This new, extended policy has now come into effect. Facebook posts declaring an early victory in individual states are labelled, reminding users that votes are still being counted and the election result has not been declared.

Facebook also directs users to its Voting Information Center.

Both Twitter and Facebook sprung into action on Wednesday, when Trump claimed at a speech in the White House that he had won the election, despite votes in key states still being counted.

Before Trump made his speech, he had already posted twice on Facebook that he would claim victory.

In line with its policy against early calls of the overall election result, Facebook placed identical information labels next to both posts.

While both Twitter and Facebook responded to Trump’s posts, they did so in very different ways, and misinformation experts told Business Insider that, overall, Twitter did a better job.