Twitter announced that it will be live streaming the U.S. presidential and vice-presidential debates as part of its expansion into online streaming.
The site will be streaming the first presidential debate next Monday between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, with the video being showed alongside curated tweets.
The streaming package will also include the vice-presidential debate between Mike Pence and Tim Kaine on October 4th, as well as follow up debates between the candidates as the election fast approaches.
Twitter’s plans add to the already significant role that social media is set to play in this election, with Facebook responsible for gathering questions for the first presidential debate.
It also is also a mark of the pressure on the company to become a major player in video streaming, following its $10 million deal win April to stream Thursday night NFL games, as Facebook constantly expands its video features.
However, the company’s NFL live streams have been criticised for being too slow, with some viewers reporting the coverage was almost a minute behind real time.
Other technology companies involved in live streaming and covering the debates include Snapchat, YouTube, and Google.
You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at ben@yiannopoulos.net
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