Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Responds To Donald Trump’s Claim That He Is Being Censored
A video posted by Donald Trump’s campaign was pulled off of social media after complaints about copyright infringement, but the president used the opportunity to claim that he was being censored by Twitter, who he says is on the side of “Radical Left Democrats.” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wasn’t about to let the misinformation stand, however. He responded explaining that the president’s claim of censorship was untrue, and the video was removed for copyright infringement.
On Thursday, the Trump campaign posted a nearly four-minute video narrated by the president using audio of a speech he gave a few days after George Floyd died while in police custody.
In the video, Trump calls Floyd’s death a “tragedy” and warns that there have been “radical left-wing groups” using the opportunity to bring “anarchy” across the nation. It also showed police officers hugging demonstrators and cleaning up graffiti in the wake of some protests.
But shortly after hitting social media, the video was removed because it contained an image that the copyright holder claims the Trump campaign wasn’t given permission to use.
As a result, Trump tweeted a link to a story about the removal, adding the claim that the video was removed as part of bias against him.
“They are fighting hard for the Radical Left Democrats. A one sided battle. Illegal. Section 230!” Trump tweeted.
Shortly after, Dorsey jumped into the conversation to set the record straight.
“Not true and not illegal. This was pulled because we got a DMCA complaint from copyright holder,” he wrote.
The back and forth is a continuation of the battle between the president and social media channels. Earlier this month, Twitter put a warning on two of his messages, linking to a page that explained why the president’s tweets contained information that wasn’t considered factual and laying out data on his claims.
Later, Twitter put another warning over one of the president’s tweets, claiming that it violated their policy against glorifying violence. In the tweet, Trump called demonstrators “thugs.”
“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!” he tweeted.
Trump has repeatedly called for section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to be revoked, claiming it allows social media companies to avoid responsibility for the content posted by the people using their platform.
