Twitter attaches disclaimer to Trump's Minneapolis tweet for 'glorifying violence'
Story highlights
This comes even as Trump on Wednesday threatened to regulate or shut down social media companies, a day after Twitter Inc added a warning to a few of his tweets prompting readers to fact check his claims. It is for the first time Twitter has undertaken such action.
Twitter on Friday said that one of US President Donald Trump's tweets on Minneapolis protests had breached its rules about "glorifying violence."
"...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's tweet read.
Twitter added that it may be in the public's interest for the tweet to remain accessible.
This comes even as Trump on Wednesday threatened to regulate or shut down social media companies, a day after Twitter Inc added a warning to a few of his tweets prompting readers to fact check his claims. It is for the first time Twitter has undertaken such action.
Violent protests broke out in Minneapolis city over the death of a black man seen in graphic video footage gasping for breath as a white officer knelt on his neck. Following two of these protests, Minnesota's governor activated the National Guard on Thursday to help police restore order.
Four city police officers involved in the incident, including the one shown pressing his knee into George Floyd's neck as he lay on the ground, moaning, "please, I can't breathe," were fired from their jobs the next day.
The Floyd case was reminiscent of the 2014 killing of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man in New York City who died after being put in a banned police chokehold as he, too, was heard to mutter, "I can't breathe."
The city named the four officers involved in the encounter as Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J Alexander Kueng. Local news media have identified Chauvin as the officer seen kneeling on Floyd's neck.
Meanwhile, the dramatic shift by the tech company, which has tightened its policies in recent years amid criticism that its hands-off approach has allowed misinformation to thrive, had prompted Trump to accuse it of interfering in the upcoming US presidential election.