Twitter Slaps First-Ever ‘Manipulated’ Tag On Doctored Video Of Joe Biden Posted By Donald Trump
Twitter is calling “fake news” on a video that Donald Trump shared making it appear as if opponent Joe Biden was endorsing him.
For what is believed to be the first time ever, the social media site applied a “manipulated media” tag to the video that was first shared by White House social media director Dan Scavino and later retweeted by the president.
As The Verge reported, the move comes just days after Twitter implemented a ban on faked pictures, videos, and other media. The policy is meant to cover media “likely to impact public safety or cause serious harm,” the report noted.
The “manipulated media” tag on the video of Joe Biden could spell further trouble for Trump down the road. As the report from The Verge noted, Twitter has announced that it would ban repeat offenders of the policy.
Just in: Twitter applied its new manipulated media label for the first time to a deceptively edited video of Joe Biden. It was shared by White House social media director Dan Scavino, and retweeted by the president. pic.twitter.com/PggcCwMNkx
— Cat Zakrzewski (@Cat_Zakrzewski) March 8, 2020
The Trump campaign and allies have also been criticized for unfounded allegations that Biden is suffering from mental decline or possible dementia. Biden has spoken openly about his work to overcome a stutter and the effect it can have on his public speeches, but many in Trump’s orbit have claimed that the incidents show a cognitive decline for Biden.
As Yahoo News reported, some medical experts say that those Trump allies pushing the allegation against Biden appear to be flipping what is seen as one of Trump’s own major weaknesses.
“A few stumbled words are not the same as the extreme danger that result from a list of signs that Donald Trump has shown,” Bandy X. Lee, a psychiatrist on the faculty at the Yale School of Medicine, told Yahoo News. She added that “none of them apply to Joe Biden.”
Twitter has been among the most proactive social media outlets in pushing back against election manipulation. Last year, CEO Jack Dorsey announced that the site would be banning all political ads ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Dorsey said that these ads can force a message on a narrowly focused group of users and create an unfair advantage for campaigns with greater financial resources.
The Trump campaign lashed out at the news, with campaign manager Brad Parscale claiming that the move was made specifically to hurt Trump.
“Twitter bans political ads in yet another attempt by the left to silence Trump and conservatives,” he tweeted along with a press release from the campaign blasting it as a stupid move that would cost the company millions of dollars. “Wouldn’t be surprised if @twitter lifted the ban after 2020.”
