Amid talk of removing Trump's account, Twitter now disables US President's campaign video

Twitter on Thursday removed video tributes to George Floyd tweeted by the US President's Trump campaign over a copyright complaint. The micro-blogging website claimed it had run afoul of the website’s policy on copyrighted material. 

The pair of tweets posted by the @TeamTrump and @TrumpWarRoom 2020 campaign accounts on Wednesday included nearly four-minute videos narrated by Trump discussing Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, which he calls a “grave tragedy” that “should never have happened.”

'Join hands, not hurling fists'

In the video, Trump warns about “violence and anarchy” from “radical leftwing groups” over images of riots and looting. Twitter left up the posts but removed the videos and placed an overlay on them that reads, “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”

Twitter refuses to rule out suspending Trump's account

Meanwhile, a top Twitter executive on Thursday refused to rule out suspending Donald Trump's account if the US president continued posting incendiary messages such as those about the George Floyd protests, AFP reported. Trump has relied on Twitter to get out his message without submitting himself to questions from reporters. His 81.7 million followers have made the @realDonaldTrump account one of Twitter's 10 most popular.

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The US leader has been at war with the social media platform he uses daily since it took the unprecedented decision to fact-check two of his tweets about postal ballots last month. Twitter followed that up Friday by covering up a message from Trump warning protesters outraged by unarmed black man Floyd's death at police hands that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts".

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A message above that tweet warned that it "violated Twitter Rules about glorifying violence". Viewers had to click on the message to see Trump's original posting. Twitter's decision to fact-check and hide Trump's posting has put pressure on Facebook and other social media platforms to follow suit.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg's refusal to sanction false or inflammatory Trump posts sparked a virtual walkout by hundreds of the company's employees on Monday. Snapchat will also stop "promoting" President Donald Trump on its video messaging service, Associated Press reported on Thursday.

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Snapchat's action is more limited. It means only that the president's posts will no longer show up in the app's "Discover" section, which showcases news and posts by celebrities and public figures. Trump's account will remain active on Snapchat and visible to anyone who searches for or follows it. 

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(With agency inputs)