Lies that Biden ‘lost’ Penn. take hold as tech companies fight claims

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Tom Bevan, co-founder and president of Real Clear Politics, has slammed reports that his website pulled its call of Pennsylvania for Joe Biden in the election. 

Biden was declared the projected winner of the 2020 presidential election on Saturday, after securing 270 electoral votes. The Trump administration has since filed lawsuits which challenge Biden’s victory. 

On Monday, it was falsely reported that Biden had lost Pennsylvania and that the political news site “rescinded” its call that he was projected to win the state, New York Times reports. 

Read More: GOP Mississippi official calls for state to ‘succeed’ from US after Biden win

“Just got word that they pulled Pennsylvania’s electoral votes from Biden today after the Supreme Court hearing on voting fraud!” wrote Facebook user Christa Elisha in a Nov. 9 post. “Biden is no longer President Elect! Our prayers are working!!! Keep it up saints!” 

Elisha’s post includes screenshots attributed to Real Clear Politics, as well as a Nov. 9 tweet from Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani, that claims the president’s lawsuits “will invalidate 300,000 or more crooked democrat (sic) votes votes (sic) in Philly.”

Giuliani added, “Real Clear Politics just took PA away from Biden and made it a toss up.”

“This is false. We never called Pennsylvania, and nothing has changed,” Bevan tweeted on Nov. 9.

Read More: Pennsylvania postal worker admits his claim of ballot tampering wasn’t true

RealClearPolitics withdrew Biden's win in Pennsylvania. Biden went below 270 and now he has only 259 electoral votes. The media are starting to reverse the Joe Biden's fake news victory. Biden won nothing. This coup d'état has already started to collapse.https://t.co/BHqu7NhgCT

— Sacchetti2024 (@Sacchetti2024) November 10, 2020

This misinformation about Biden has spread like wildfire, and Elisha’s post has been widely shared across social media. 

Platforms including Facebook and YouTube have been yanking posts or deleting pages and groups for containing false information about Biden “losing” Pennsylvania. But the fake news is surging, making it difficult for tech companies to curb the lies and inaccuracies.

A map of the 2020 presidential election results appears on the Real Clear Politics website, and it shows Pennsylvania shaded in gray/uncalled since the page went live on Election Day.

Real Clear Politics’ Washington Bureau Chief Carl M. Cannon co-signed Bevan’s comments. “We made no change on Pennsylvania whatsoever,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

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