Social Media and the US election

Video caption, 大象传媒 reporter Marianna Spring takes a look at some of the strange things being said about the US election online

More than 140 million Americans voted in this year's US election to choose who will be the country's next President.

Joe Biden won the election after he got more than 270 electoral college votes - the amount needed to win the Presidential election.

However, counting is still going on in some states and Donald Trump's team hasn't accepted defeat yet and said they will fight on.

Social media has played an important role throughout this year's US election but there has been a lot of false information being shared online.

This has created a rumour overload, with people sharing unsupported theories and false information online.

Twitter take-down

Image source, Twitter

Image caption, Twitter has hidden some of Trump's posts and users can only see the contents if they click "view"

Donald Trump is no stranger to social media, and he is well known for sharing his opinions on Twitter.

Many of his recent posts have been covered by a warning sticker from Twitter which says the tweet might be "misleading".

Twitter said it had put a label covering Mr Trump's tweet about the election being "stolen", because it went against Twitter's civic integrity policy - their rules.

These tweets have caught a lot of people's attention, including environmental activist Greta Thunberg.

She used the same words that Trump had directed at her in an old tweet to poke fun at him on social media.

"So Ridiculous! Donald must work on his Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Donald, Chill!"

Rumours and conspiracies

Image source, Getty Images

With lots of people feeling angry, passionate and frustrated on social media - it's not surprising that rumours can spread fast.

Both Democrat and Republican supporters have been guilty of spreading conspiracies and fake news online in the build up to the election.

Some Democrat supporters suggested that Donald Trump didn't really have coronavirus, and some Republican supporters wrongly claimed that the ballots of Trump supporters were set on fire.

The big worry is that these rumours could lead to protests and potential violence or lots of people deciding to reject the result of this Election.

Marianna's top three tips for social media

  • How does this post makes you feel? - is it trying to make you feel a certain way?
  • Ask yourself: Where has this story come from? Is it one-sided? Does it seem right?
  • Take a moment to pause before you share.