White House doubles down & dares Twitter to block another Trump's tweet
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It has taken Twitter three and a half years to take any action against Trump’s incendiary tweets from the White House.
After Trump’s tweet was marked by Twitter on Friday, the White House doubled down, more or less daring Twitter to block another tweet.
“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!” https://t.co/GDwAydcAOw
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 29, 2020
Earlier this week, Twitter appended a fact check to one of Trump’s tweets about mail-in voting.
I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020
Twitter didn’t block Trump’s tweet, but covered it with a warning and made it ineligible for retweets or responses.
We have placed a public interest notice on this Tweet from @realdonaldtrump. https://t.co/6RHX56G2zt
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) May 29, 2020
Trump accused Twitter of ''interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election'' and insisting ''as president, I will not allow this to happen.''
His campaign manager, Brad Parscale, said Twitter’s ''clear political bias'' had led the campaign to pull ''all our advertising from Twitter months ago.''
Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. Please leave our employees out of this. We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make.
— jack (@jack) May 28, 2020
Meanwhile, Trump after sharply criticising Twitter for fact-checking his tweet signed an executive order that intended to limit the freedom of tech organisations over the content posted on their mediums.
As he told the press on Thursday, he would prefer to delete his Twitter profile and close the company entirely; without that power, he requested that the FCC adjust Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects online platforms from liability for what their users post online.
On Friday morning, the company went further, blocking one of his tweets calling for the shooting of protestors in Minneapolis, where violence has broken out in the wake of the police murder of an unarmed, unthreatening black man named George Floyd.
It has taken Twitter three and a half years to take any action against Trump’s incendiary tweets from the White House.