The White House dared Twitter to slap a warning label on President Trump’s tweet about the protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, over the death of George Floyd a second time.
The social media company didn’t blink.
Twitter said the White House account “violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence” after it repeated a tweet from the president that called the protesters “THUGS” and implied they could be shot.
Twitter hid the White House’s tweet after Trump first posted the tweet on his personal account early Friday morning and Twitter placed a warning label on it.
“We have placed a public interest notice on this tweet from @realdonaldtrump and an identical tweet from @WhiteHouse,” a spokesperson for Twitter told the Washington Examiner after publication.
“The tweets violate our policies regarding the glorification of violence based on the historical context of the last line, its connection to violence, and the risk it could inspire similar actions today,” the Twitter representative added. “We’ve taken action in the interest of preventing others from being inspired to commit violent acts but have kept the tweet on Twitter because it is important that the public still be able to see the tweet given its relevance to ongoing matters of public importance. As is standard with this notice, engagements with the tweet will be limited. People will be able to retweet with comment but will not be able to like, reply, or retweet it.”
This was the first time Twitter used the public interest notice on a message from Trump.
Twitter has now also flagged the official White House tweet that used the same language President Trump used on his account last night, which is said glorified violence pic.twitter.com/3jq5acY7cS
— Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek) May 29, 2020
“These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen,” the tweet read. “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!”
The tweets from Trump and the White House were not taken down but are hidden from view unless a user clicks to see them. The message placed over the tweets says: “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 is doing nothing about all of the lies & propaganda being put out by China or the Radical Left Democrat Party,” Trump tweeted, responding to the platform’s decision to flag his tweet. “They have targeted Republicans, Conservatives & the President of the United States. Section 230 should be revoked by Congress. Until then, it will be regulated!”
Trump signed an executive order Thursday to combat what he saw as unfair censorship of conservative voices.
