Twitter on Tuesday placed a “public interest” notice on a tweet by US President Donald Trump because it violated the platform’s community rules.
Trump’s tweet read: “There will never be an ‘Autonomous Zone’ in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!”
According to Twitter, the tweet has been tagged with a “public interest” notice because it violates “Twitter rules about abusive behavior.”
“However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the tweet to remain accessible,” the social media platform adds on its public notice.
Tensions between Twitter and Trump have been high in recent weeks, with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently defending his platform’s decision to fact-check Trump’s tweets ahead of the US elections in November.
his is not the first Trump tweet to be flagged by Twitter. Amid the widespread US protests against police brutality, a May 29 post by the president was flagged for “glorifying violence.” In the tweet, Trump called protesters “thugs” and claimed that they were “dishonoring the memory of George Floyd.” He also wrote that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
Trump’s May 26 tweet that claimed that mail-in ballots will cause 2020 to be “the most rigged election” in America’s history was also flagged by Twitter.
There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2020
We added a label to two @realDonaldTrump Tweets about California’s vote-by-mail plans as part of our efforts to enforce our civic integrity policy. We believe those Tweets could confuse voters about what they need to do to receive a ballot and participate in the election process.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) May 28, 2020
Trump in late May signed an executive order intended to weaken a law that prevents people from suing social media platforms over content posted by their users.
“We’re here today to defend free speech from one of the gravest dangers it has faced in American history, frankly,” Trump said on May 28. “A small handful of powerful social media monopolies control the vast portion of all private and public communications in the United States.”