Micro-blogging site Twitter on Friday flagged tweets in which Democratic challenger Joe Biden was referred to as “president-elect” and his running mate Kamala Harris was called “vice president-elect,” AFP reported. The tweets were flagged for prematurely claiming Biden as the winner of the US presidential election, as counting of votes is underway in several key battleground states.

A tweet by Democratic Coalition co-founder and podcaster Scott Dworkin was flagged and a disclaimer — “Official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted,” was added.

“President-Elect Joe Biden. Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris,” Dworkin had said in the tweet that was flagged.

The notice came with a link to information about the status of the election.

Twitter’s Civic Integrity Policy

Flagging of Dworkin’s tweet was in-line with Twitter’s Civic Integrity Policy, the company told AFP.

“We will label Tweets claiming victory that meet our criteria as both Pennsylvania and the presidential race overall have only been called by one source,” a Twitter spokesman said.

“Per our rules, until a second source makes this determination, claims of victory must cite a source that has made the call.”

Which tweets are flagged?

Twitter accounts that qualify for posts to be labeled include presidential campaigns or contenders, as well as US-based accounts with more than 100,000 followers or tweets being massively liked or quoted.

Twitter will consider an election result if it’s announced by state election officials or when calls about an outcome are backed by at least two national news outlets with independent decision desks, according to the one-to-many messaging service, AFP reported.

Social media giants Twitter and Facebook have been scrambling to flag, mask and limit the spread of premature claims of victory or false attacks on the voting process since the polls closed late Tuesday.

“As votes are still being counted across the country, our teams continue to take enforcement action on tweets that prematurely declare victory or contain misleading information about the election broadly,” Twitter said.

Unfounded claims by Trump regarding the voting process as well as premature claims of victory about either candidate in the race have been flagged or masked, with links provided to reliable sources of information.

Also read: Ex-Donald Trump aide Steve Bannon sanctioned by platforms over violence call

“Twitter is out of control, made possible through the government gift of Section 230!” tweeted President Donald Trump on Thursday.

Twitter had flagged several of his tweets, that were either regarding claims of alleged election fraud or claims of victory.