Twitter CEO Elon Musk suggested placing a label on accounts like those of Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post’s lead fact checker, stating they are “frequently posting incorrect information.”
Musk’s suggestion came hours after Kessler caught heat on the social media platform for falsely stating former President Donald Trump’s oldest sons were attempting to “intimidate” Acting Justice for New York County Supreme Court Juan Merchan by tweeting reports that his daughter worked on the “Biden-Harris” campaign. Merchan is overseeing the case against Trump in which prosecutors allege he committed 34 counts of felony business fraud.
Maybe a link under the account name to the list of Community Notes of an account that is frequently posting incorrect information
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2023
Donald Trump Jr. shared a link to Breitbart News’s coverage, writing, “Seems relevant… yet another connection in this hand-picked democrat show trial. The BS never ends folks.”
Seems relevant… yet another connection in this hand picked democrat show trial. The BS never ends folks.
Daughter of Judge on Trump Case Worked on Biden-Harris Campaign https://t.co/5FtA7K9732
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 4, 2023
In a now-deleted tweet sharing a Gateway Pundit article, Eric Trump wrote, “They are all hand picked. It is all pre-arranged. This corruption is on a different level.”
Kessler posted screenshots of the text of their tweets but cropped out the reports with a lead image of Merchan’s daughter. He falsely wrote, “Both Trump sons have now posted photos of the judge’s adult daughter. Totally irrelevant — and obviously intended to intimidate.”
He added that he “removed the photo[s],” which were actually news reports, “from their tweets so as not to spread the image further.”
According to Alex Lorusso, the executive producer of Newsmax’s The Benny Report, Kessler’s tweet was corrected by Twitter’s Community Notes. He shared a screen grab of the “added context” readers thought was relevant.
Glenn Kessler has been sent to @CommunityNotes Hell again Ὀ https://t.co/wbIOgtcaas
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) April 5, 2023
“The posts in question contain a link to an article alleging that the judge’s daughter previously worked on the Biden-Harris campaign. Neither individual attached a photo; it is the preview image for the linked article,” the correction, which was apparently removed as of midday Wednesday, read.
Lorusso then cc’d Musk on a “New Twitter Feature idea.”
“If you get shamed by @CommunityNotes three times in a week like @GlennKesslerWP, your Verified Check becomes a Clown Emoji for Two weeks. Thoughts?” he asked Musk.
“Maybe a link under the account name to the list of Community Notes of an account that is frequently posting incorrect information,” Musk suggested in response.