Chinese Spokesman Now Has a Label on His Tweets

More than two months after it was posted, an accusation by a Chinese government spokesman has received a "Get the facts" label from Twitter—the same caution that was added to a couple of President Trump's tweets this week. Zhao Lijian of the foreign ministry had tweeted, "It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan." The next day, the BBC reports, Zhao tweeted a link to an article saying the virus began in the US, which was retweeted thousands of times. Both tweets now carry the label below the posts. Clicking on it sends users to tweets about Reuters' coverage of where the coronavirus might have originated. A Twitter spokesperson said the tweets needed more context because they "contain potentially misleading content about COVID-19."

The New York Post had pushed Twitter on why only Trump's tweets received warnings but not Zhao's, per Axios, saying it appeared to be a double standard. The company deferred, then later told the Post, "after further review, we've added labels to these two tweets." Twitter since has added the label to hundreds of tweets, per the New York Times, as Trump has increased pressure on social media companies. One label added Thursday called out a manipulated photo in a post about the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. CEO Jack Dorsey said Twitter won't bow to the pressure on its fact-checking. "We'll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information," he said. (More Twitter stories.)