Leading social media websites, Twitter and Facebook disabled a Donald Trump election campaign video over copyright violations. The video had slammed “radical leftwing groups” for the protests across the US.
It was posted from @TeamTrump and @TrumpWarRoom accounts and was a four-minute tribute to African American George Floyd who died in Minneapolis after a police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.
While Twitter disabled the video, Facebook and Instagram removed posts with the video on Trump campaign accounts, reports Vox.
“As per our copyright policy, we respond to valid copyright complaints sent to us by a copyright owner or their authorized representatives,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
The Trump campaign hit back, accusing Twitter and its CEO Jack Dorsey of “censoring” Trump’s “uplifting and unifying message.”
A Facebook spokesperson said that they “received a copyright complaint from the creator under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and have removed the post”.
The Trump campaign later tweeted: “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner”.
In an earlier escalation, Twitter introduced fact checks that showed up on Trump’s tweets. Trump later signed an executive order threatening to slash protections for social media companies.
After Trump threatened the micro-blogging platform, Dorsey defended the fact checking action against him.
“Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make,” tweeted Dorsey.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Saturday said the company has started a workstream for building products to “advance racial justice”.
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