Twitter removed a video uploaded by President Donald Trump’s campaign verified account, citing copyright infringement, according to The Hill . The video was almost four minutes long and featured the president commenting about the recent death of George Floyd and the unrest that has spread across the nation following his death.
The tweet was not only utilized by the Trump campaign. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s oldest son, sent it to his formidable following while adding his own comment. However, both Don Jr. and the Trump campaign’s tweets are now empty with a message saying that the video has been removed.
This X 1000!!! https://t.co/aEiH5ZEIUx
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 4, 2020
Along with the president speaking on Floyd’s death, the video contained numerous photos and video clips of protests, riots, police interactions with demonstrators, and other scenes from the days since Floyd’s death.
The president also warned about “violence and anarchy” from “radical leftwing groups,” showing photos of looting that has taken place in major cities across the nation. He also described law enforcement as being a group made up primarily of “devoted public servants” and featured photos of the efforts made by law enforcement to make protesters feel heard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P40rSPTRKI&feature=youtu.be
According to The Hill , the Trump campaign reached out to the social media platform to inquire about the video’s removal and how it might be in breach of their terms of service. A spokesperson for Twitter told The Hill that they removed the video after having received requests from the owners of at least one of the images used in the montage, who said that their copyright was breached.
The Trump campaign — who has had their fair share of issues with Twitter in recent days — called out the move as being politically motivated. Andrew Clark, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, said, “This incident is yet another reminder that Twitter is making up the rules as they go along.”
“From the dubious removal of the hilarious Nickelback video to capricious fact checks and manipulated media labels to questionable claims of copyright, Twitter has repeatedly failed to explain why their rules seem to only apply to the Trump campaign but not to others. Censoring out the president’s important message of unity around the George Floyd protests is an unfortunate escalation of this double standard.”
Twitter made headlines recently when they decided to begin “fact-checking” the president’s tweets and adding a warning to some, saying that they incited violence. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke out against the decision, as The Inquisitr previously reported, saying that he didn’t believe it was a platform’s place to be the “arbiters of truth.”
