San Francisco, November 5: Twitter was having a field day in flagging tweets by US President Donald Trump as he prematurely declared victory in battleground states, challenging the platform policies. Twitter started applying labels to the offending tweets shortly after they were posted on Wednesday. "We have claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (which won't allow legal observers) the State of Georgia, and the State of North Carolina, each one of which has a Big Trump lead," Trump tweeted on Wednesday.

Trump's premature announcement followed a flood of tweets from his inner circle declaring a false victory in Pennsylvania, reports The Verge. Trump's son, Eric Trump, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and the Trump reelection campaign's Twitter account, @TeamTrump, all tweeted out messages prematurely declaring a Trump victory in Pennsylvania "within 10 minutes of each other". YouTube Refuses to Block Video That Claims Donald Trump Won US Presidential Election 2020.

US President Donald Trump's Tweet

Trump campaign director Bill Stepien also told reporters that they had won Pennsylvania. The tensions between US President Donald Trump and social media platforms continued to simmer as Twitter earlier mounted restrictions on one of his controversial tweets while Facebook put labels to the president's posts that alleged election theft, while the vote counting was underway.

According to a CNN report on Thursday, former Vice President Joe Biden moved to within 17 electoral votes of claiming the presidency by winning the state of Michigan, in the latest twist of a dramatic election clash. The election remained in suspense as the race tightened dramatically in Georgia and Pennsylvania.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 05, 2020 11:22 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).