Pascal Oparada
Hours after signing an executive order against social media companies, President Donald Trump’s tweets about the protests in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd, killed by police on Tuesday have been flagged by Twitter as glorifying violence.
Subsequently, Twitter has hidden the President’s tweet instead of completely removing it.
Trump had in a tweet threatened to call in the military to check the riots in Minneapolis and said the looters would be shot if looting starts.
His statement had drawn widespread condemnation for lacking in empathy.
However, Twitter said the tweet would be allowed to stay in the interest of the public.
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According to Twitter rules, “Twitter generally actions Tweets that violate our rules. However, we recognize that sometimes it may be in the public interest to allow people to view Tweets that would otherwise be taken down. We consider content to be in the public interest if it directly contributes to understanding or discussion of a matter of public concern.”
On Tuesday, Twitter placed a fact-checking label under Trump’s tweets about Mail-in Ballots, prompting the social media company to ask people to get the correct information about Trump’s tweets.
This angered Trump who issued an executive order to remove some privileges enjoyed by social media companies.
According to the Order, social media companies would be held liable for what people say on their platform.
There have been three days of protests in Minneapolis over the death of a black man who was killed by the police.
