We’ve placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our policy against abusive behavior, specifically, the presence of a threat of harm against an identifiable group.https://t.co/AcmW6O6d4t
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) June 23, 2020
The warning label hides the president’s tweet, and users must click in to view the text.
Twitter has faced off with Trump over his account in the past few weeks, drawing his ire as the company labeled two of his tweets for misleading information about mail-in ballots, one for a manipulated video and one for inciting violence.
After the first of the labels — which placed fact-check warnings on two tweets about mail-in ballots — Trump and his supporters lashed out at Twitter, accusing the company of censoring conservative voices. Trump signed an executive order that sought to punish social media companies by opening the door to changing a federal law that gives Internet companies broad legal immunity over what their users post online.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted in response to Twitter’s labeling on Tuesday, writing, “Twitter labeled it ‘abusive behavior’ for the President of the United States to say that he will enforce the law. Twitter says it is ‘abusive’ to prevent rioters from forcibly seizing territory to set up a lawless zone in our capital.”
She followed it up with mention of the shootings in Seattle’s autonomous zone controlled by protesters.
“We must have LAW AND ORDER!” she wrote.
After Twitter labeled one of Trump’s tweets as “manipulated media” for linking to a doctored video last week, White House spokesman Judd Deere said, “If Twitter is not careful, it’s going to have to label itself a ‘manipulator.’”
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the House minority leader, tweeted Tuesday for Twitter to “#StopTheBias.”
“The President tweets that people should stop breaking the law and Twitter moves to censor him,” he wrote.
Twitter noted that this is not the first time it has used the “public interest” notice to limit how a tweet can be viewed or shared. That type of label was also used on Trump’s tweet in May in which he referred to protesters as “THUGS” and wrote, “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
Fellow social media giant Facebook left that post up, provoking harsh criticism against the company. Trump also posted Tuesday’s message about the autonomous zone on Facebook, where it remains unlabeled. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Social media companies have been caught in a heated public debate about how to treat politicians on their websites since the 2016 elections, and concerns have only been heightened as this year’s presidential election approaches.