Twitter censors White House tweet re-sharing Donald Trump’s ‘shooting’ message

The White House has been censored on Twitter after attempting to re-tweet Donald Trump’s controversial tweet accused of “glorifying violence”.

Twitter has censored an attempt by the White House to re-tweet Donald Trump’s controversial comment that promised “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”.

Twitter censored the US President’s tweet about the unrest in Minneapolis on Friday, saying it broke the platform’s rules around “glorifying violence”.

The tweet can now only be read after a user clicks through a disclaimer, which says: “This tweet violated the Twitter rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the tweet to remain accessible.”

Twitter said it added the warning “in the interest of preventing others from being inspired to commit violent acts”.

People would still be able to retweet the message if they added their own comment, but they would not be able to like it or add a reply, it said.

Hours later, the White House’s official Twitter account attempted to share the exact same wording used by Mr Trump, but failed.

Twitter swiftly hid the tweet for breaking the same rules.

“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!” https://t.co/GDwAydcAOw

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 29, 2020

Mr Trump’s original tweet read: “These THUGS are dishonouring 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!”

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On Thursday, he accused the social media platform of silencing Republican voices after it added a fact-check warning to another of his tweets about mail-in ballots, and threatened to shut down social media firms

He said: “Twitter is doing nothing about all of the lies and propaganda being put out by China or the Radical Left Democrat Party. They have targeted Republicans, Conservatives & the President of the United States. Section 230 should be revoked by Congress. Until then, it will be regulated!”

Donald Trump’s tweet was hidden on Twitter for “glorifying violence”. Picture: Olivier Morin/AFP

Facebook and Instagram have, for now, left up the same message from the president on their services without any similar warning.

A spokeswoman for Twitter said the company’s CEO was informed in advance by staff of a decision to tag Mr Trump’s tweet as “glorifying violence”.

“The decision was made jointly by teams within Twitter, and our CEO Jack Dorsey was informed of the plan before the tweet was labelled,” they said.

The inflammatory decision to retweet the President's original message from an official account comes against the backdrop of mass protests in Minneapolis and other cities over the death of George Floyd this week.

Floyd, 46, was filmed lying on the ground while a white police officer knelt on his neck as he struggled for air for more than five minutes.

The shocking footage sparked a wave of anger and led to a police building being burned down in Minneapolis, while protesters were arrested in other cities.

But President’s Trump’s team were not backing down over Twitter’s decision to censor Trump’s tweet. Twitter feed manager and social media director Dan Scavino shared an image of Trump’s original quote contained in an image.

“Twitter is full of sh*t — more and more people are beginning to get it,” he wrote

pic.twitter.com/DlbiWHg7jy

— Dan Scavino Jr.🇺🇸 (@Scavino45) May 29, 2020

Protesters walk past burning debris outside the Third Police Precinct in Minneapolis that was set on fire by protesters. Picture: Kerem Yucel / AFP.

Daylight has revealed the true extent of the damage after three nights of protests. Picture: Kerem Yucel / AFP.

Meanwhile on Friday pressure was mounting on Minnesota officials to arrest the four officers blamed for Floyd’s death.

Floyd’s family demanded the officer be arrested for murder, but local and federal law enforcement officials said Thursday they still needed to investigate the case thoroughly.

“The Department of Justice has made the investigation in this case a top priority,” said Erica MacDonald, the US federal lawyer for Minnesota.

“To be clear, President Trump, as well as Attorney-General William Barr, are directly and actively monitoring the investigation in this case.”

But Sharpton said Friday that video of Floyd’s death was strong enough to support arresting the officers, who have been fired from the Minneapolis police.

“The tape is more than enough to establish probable cause. to make an arrest. There is no reason these four policeman have not been arrested by now.”