Twitter flags Trump ‘racist baby’ video as misinformation
The social media giant added a label that the president's post had been 'manipulated'
Social media giant, Twitter, continues its crackdown against President Donald Trump and his spread of misinformation to the public.
Social media giant, Twitter, continues its crackdown against President Donald Trump and his spread of misinformation to the public.
The tweet shows a fake CNN banner saying, “Terrified todler (sic) runs from racist baby!” And “Racist baby probably a Trump voter.” The video shows a Black toddler running ahead of a white toddler. The video then goes blank, and the words “what really happened was,” appear on the screen.
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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2020
The video then goes to a viral video of the children running toward each other, while the 70s folk song “Close to you,” plays.
The video goes on to say that mainstream media outlets spread misinformation.
Twitter flagged the video and added a label that it had been “manipulated.” The company’s policy prohibits sharing videos that have been “deceptively altered.”
Still from Donald Trump’s racist baby manipulated video (screenshot)
This marks the second time that Twitter has taken decisive action to reduce Trump’s spread of misinformation. Last month, the company linked one of the president’s tweets about mail-in voting to their own “fact-checking” page. They also flagged the president’s “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” tweet as glorifying violence.
The actions have earned Twitter backlash from the president.
He signed an executive order seeking to narrow protections for social media companies over the content posted on their sites. The order is expected to be challenged in court.
Facebook has been much less inclined to slow the stem of misinformation coming out of the White House. According to the New York Times, employees staged a walkout when Mark Zuckerberg refused to take action on a post that was seen as glorifying violence against protesters.
READ MORE: Twitter rips Trump’s Bible photo-op in front of church after protest remarks
This week, The Washington Post reports, the company did remove a post from the Trump campaign that prominently featured a Nazi symbol. The post was said to violate Facebook’s rules against “organized hate.”
On Wednesday, the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP, and several other civil rights organizations wrote a letter urging corporations to stop advertising on Facebook, until the company takes a firmer stance against online hatred.
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