It's on, now.
Just a day after Donald Trump signed an executive order pertaining to social media in revenge for Twitter fact-checking the president's tweets, Twitter has flagged another Trump tweet, but this time with a different warning.
The tweet in question, which you cannot see at all until you click on it, concerns the recent protests in the U.S. against police brutality. These were sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a police officer handcuffed him and knelt on his neck for several minutes.
"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 tweeted.
"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," Twitter's label reads.
The flag was likely prompted by Trump's "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" comment, which is, at the very least, insensitive. Twitter's guidelines state that there's a "policy against content that glorifies acts of violence in a way that may inspire others to replicate those violent acts and cause real offline harm, or events where members of a protected group were the primary targets or victims."
The executive order, signed by Trump on Thursday, boils down to trying to change the scope of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and essentially pressuring social media companies to let Trump tweet whatever he pleases.
UPDATE: May 29, 2020, 2:12 p.m. CEST Unsurprisingly, Trump has reacted to Twitter's flagging of his tweet with another tweet of his own. "Twitter is doing nothing about all of the lies & propaganda being put out by China or the Radical Left Democrat Party. They have targeted Republicans, Conservatives & the President of the United States. Section 230 should be revoked by Congress. Until then, it will be regulated," he tweeted.
Topics Social Media Twitter Donald Trump Politics
