Twitter wasted no time putting its new misinformation labels to use.
A video created by White House social media director Dan Scavino and retweeted by Donald Trump has been tagged as “manipulated media.”
The clip, which shows Democratic candidate Joe Biden appearing to endorse Trump, was in fact trimmed at an opportune moment.
“Excuse me. We can only re-elect Donald Trump,” the presidential hopeful says in Scavino’s video.
But there is more to Biden’s quote—taken from a recent speech in Kansas City, Mo.: He goes on to say, “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.”
As of press time, the Scavino’s post has been retweeted 24,500 times and earned more than 75,000 likes.
The label, which began appearing to users on Sunday night, only shows up on timelines, not in searches. (Because I don’t follow either Scavino or Trump, a search for their tweets came up clean, with no warning.)
A company spokesperson told the Washington Post that it’s working on a fix.
This marks the first time Twitter has used its “manipulated media” tag since launching the label on March 5.
The new decree states that no one shall “deceptively share synthetic or manipulated media that are likely to cause harm.”
Twitter also reserves the right to label posts containing such material, “to help people understand [its] authenticity and to provide additional context.”
Criteria for the labeling or removing of tweets includes:
- Has it been substantially edited to add or erase visual or auditory information?
- Can the context in which it is shared result in confusion, misunderstanding, or suggestion of deliberate intent to deceive?
- Does it feature threats to physical safety, privacy, or the ability of someone to freely express themselves?
And while Scavino claims the video was “not manipulated,” it was certainly “deceptively edited,” which violates Twitter’s rule.
You’d be hard-pressed to argue that the pruned clip didn’t erase auditory information, or that its sharing wouldn’t result in misunderstanding.
The same video was shared to Facebook without any flags about the modified content.
The social network in January began cracking down on manipulated media, promising to remove “misleading” content edited in ways an average user can not easily spot.
That policy, however, does not cover all doctored videos: Content deemed parody or satire is excused, as are clips edited solely to omit or change the order of words.
“Facebook’s malfeasance when it comes to trafficking in blatantly false information is a national crisis in this respect,” Biden’s campaign manager Greg Schultz said in a statement, published by The New York Times.
More on Geek.com:
- Twitter Bans Hate Speech Based on Age, Disability, Disease
- Twitter Tests Stories-Esque Self-Destructing ‘Fleets’
- Jack Dorsey: Twitter Will ‘Probably Never’ Get Edit Button
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk