Twitter applies its new “manipulated media” label to video retweeted by Trump

A video retweeted by US President Donald Trump is the first to be marked with Twitter’s new “manipulated media” tag. The company formally unveiled a new policy in February which stated that media that has been “significantly and deceptively altered or fabricated” is likely to be labeled if it is determined to be deliberately misleading.

The video was originally tweeted by White House director of social media Dan Scavino and retweeted by Trump, used footage taken during a speech by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and was edited to make it appear as if Biden, speaking in Kansas City on Saturday, misspoke and accidentally endorsed Trump for re-election.

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In the edited version of the video, Biden appears to say “Excuse me. We can only re-elect Donald Trump.” What Biden actually said was “Excuse me. We can only re-elect Donald Trump if in fact we get engaged in this circular firing squad here. It’s gotta be a positive campaign.”

The manipulated media label began appearing on the video on Sunday evening. Twitter first announced its new policy back in November, which the company said was created after gathering user feedback and consulting with academic experts like Witness, the Reuters Institute and New York University researchers.

In order to determine if a piece of media violates the policy, Twitter says it looks at its metadata, the tweet’s context, and the Twitter user’s public information.

Twitter’s new policy was enacted after years of criticism that it has not done enough to prevent harassment on the platform. It has also faced calls from Democrats and other critics of Trump to remove the president from this platform, including last October after they said he posted tweets meant to intimidate individuals involved in the impeachment investigation against him, and in 2018 when he made a tweet that antagonized North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over a potential nuclear war.

In each case, Twitter said it would reveal questionable tweets by public leaders, but believes keeping them on the platform is a part of public discourse.

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Thomas Burn is a blogger, digital marketing expert and working with Techlofy. Being a social media enthusiast, he believes in the power of writing.

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