Hours after President Trump signed an executive order intended to crack down on Twitter and other social media sites that place warnings on his more inflammatory posts, Twitter on Thursday added a warning label to another Trump tweet, this one suggesting that protesters in Minneapolis should be shot.
"These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!" Trump posted around 1 a.m. ET this morning.
If you come upon this tweet in your timeline or on Trump's feed, however, you'll see a warning label: "This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain accessible." Click it to see the tweet.
Trump's tweets with Twitter's warning label (Credit: Twitter)
Floyd is a black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer placed his knee on the man's neck during an arrest and refused to stop even as Floyd said he could not breathe and bystanders begged the officer to let him up. Four officers were fired after the incident, but none have been charged. Protesters took to the streets over the past two nights, and a number of buildings were burned down.
This morning, Trump lashed out at Twitter for adding the warning label to his tweet.
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The official @WhiteHouse Twitter feed also re-posted Trump's tweet.
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Section 230 is a provision in the Communications Decency Act that says internet companies are not responsible for what their users post. As long as they make good faith efforts to remove certain content when requested, they are shielded from any liability. Yesterday, Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr said Section 230 should be dismantled and called on the FCC to clarify the scope of the law.
In response, Twitter said the executive order "is a reactionary and politicized approach to a landmark law. #Section230 protects American innovation and freedom of expression, and it’s underpinned by democratic values. Attempts to unilaterally erode it threaten the future of online speech and Internet freedoms."
Earlier in the week, Twitter added a fact-check to a Trump tweet about mail-in ballots. California's governor is sending ballots to "anyone living in the state," Trump wrote. The state, however, is only sending ballots to registered voters, not everyone, which the fact check explains.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has not addressed the latest warning directly, except to re-tweet a message from the Twitter communications team about it. But on Wednesday, he said "Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves. More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions."
Further Reading
- Facebook to Verify the ID of Suspiciously Popular Accounts
- Twitter's Web App Now Supports Saved Drafts, Scheduled Tweets
- Trump Launches All-Out Effort to Regulate Social Media Companies
- Twitter CEO: We'll Continue to Fact-Check Trump's Misleading Tweets on Voting
- More in Social Media