Facebook is blocking hashtags related to the accusations surrounding the 2020 election. The counting of votes is continuing and the race is still too close to call.
The hashtag #sharpiegate has been blocked on Facebook. It started trending after a woman posted a video on Facebook on election day claiming that poll workers in Maricopa County in the state of Arizona were encouraging voters to use Sharpies. Some people claim that using a Sharpie invalidates a vote.
However, while official documentation from Maricopa County Election Board tells voters not to use permanent markers, officials now claim that they will be counted and so Facebook has decided to hide all accusations about the issue, despite Arizona’s Attorney General launching an investigation into the issue.
Another hashtag blocked by the social media company is #stopthesteal that was promoted by the president and his campaign associates on Twitter.
If a user searches those blocked hashtags, they are presented with a message saying such content is “temporarily hidden” as it goes against “community standards.”
Social media companies are responding by censoring or adding labels to most of the President’s posts about election fraud. Twitter is trying to censor the posts by putting them behind “misinformation” warning. It is also reducing the spread of the posts by removing the retweet, like, and comment options.
Facebook also removed a group called “Stop the Steal 2020,” which had already gotten more than 300,000 members in the two days it existed.
