Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have all removed a Trump campaign video from their platforms after receiving copyright complaints, Reuters reported. The nearly four-minute video featured images of the late George Floyd of Minneapolis, who died May 25th after a police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. A video of the incident has prompted nationwide protests of police violence.
Twitter disabled the video, while Facebook and Instagram removed posts containing the video. When President Trump objected to the removal in a tweet, calling it “illegal,” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey responded: “Not true and not illegal. This was pulled because we got a DMCA complaint from copyright holder.”
A spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, told Reuters it also had received a copyright complaint under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. “Organizations that use original art shared on Instagram are expected to have the right to do so,” the spokesperson said. YouTube did not remove a version of the video from its platform, saying it did not contain the content that violated the copyright. As of Saturday morning, the YouTube version of the video had nearly half a million views.
It wasn’t clear who filed the copyright complaint about the video, titled “Healing Not Hatred,” which includes images of demonstrations protesting Floyd’s death and a voiceover of a President Trump speech where he says the “death of George Floyd was a grave tragedy.”
Last month, Twitter applied labels to two of President Trump’s tweets, one that used the phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” for “glorifying violence” and another one for being “potentially misleading” about mail-in voting. Trump later issued an executive order governing how websites can moderate content.
The follower in question replied, “Yep! Trump 2020! I’m appalled at you Justin! You are a Christian first and foremost. Peace can only come from God… Stop using your platform to further perpetuate blacks voting for Democrats! You don’t get it! You should go to your bible and look at what God says about peace!”
Bieber fired back:
The social media user then responded on Twitter, which didn’t go down well with the majority of Bieber’s fans.
“I’ve been feeling shame in the sense of like, Why did it take these men being killed for me to almost take a blanket over my eyes. Why now? I do feel bad when
Dwayne Johnson calls out Donald Trump in passionate video supporting Black Lives Matter
By JORDAN MOREAU
Dwayne Johnson posted a passionate video on Twitter, showing support for Black Lives Matter and appearing to question President Trump’s lack of leadership during nationwide protests against George Floyd’s death.
“Where are you? Where is our leader?” Johnson, a Bethlehem Freedom High School graduate, starts out by asking. “Where is our leader at this time when our country is down on its knees, begging, pleading, hurt, angry, frustrated, in pain with its arms out, just wanting to be heard?”
The actor repeatedly asks, “Where are you?” throughout the video, which lasts eight minutes and 25 seconds. Floyd died on May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer, who has since been charged with second-degree murder, held his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
“Where is our compassionate leader who’s going to step up to our country who’s down on its knees, and extend a hand and say, ‘You stand up, stand up with me because I got you. I hear you, I’m listening to you. And you have my word that I’m going to do everything in my power, until my dying day, my last breath, to do everything I can to create the change that is needed, to normalize equality because Black lives matter.’ Where are you?” Johnson says.
Though Johnson doesn’t refer to Trump by name, it’s clear he is speaking about the American president. The monologue is one of the strongest political stances he has openly taken during his career.
The actor also calls out the “All Lives Matter” movement, saying that right now, Black lives need support.
“Of course, all lives matter, but in this moment right now, this defining, pivotal, explosive moment where our country is down on its knees…we must say the words: Black lives matter,” he says.
Trump’s comments and tweets about protesters and suggesting violence against looters have been widely criticized by other celebrities and politicians.
“We must become the leaders we are looking for. I’ll ask it one more time: Where are you? Where is that compassionate leader who steps up and takes accountability for his country and all the people in our country?” Johnson says. “Where are you? I’ll tell you what, we’re here. We’re all here. The process to change has already begun. You can feel it across our country. Change is happening. It’s going to take time. We’re going to get beat up. We’re going to take our lumps. There’s going to be blood, but the process of change has already begun.”
Johnson has previously taken in interest in politics himself. In 2017, the A-lister told Variety he would “100% consider” running for office. On Wednesday evening, some fans commented on Johnson’s video post that he should run for president; others expressed disappointment with him getting political.
“I’m well aware politics is not the business I’m in, so the best thing I can do is continuing to listen and learn as much as I can,” Johnson told Variety in late 2017, when asked about his political ambitions. “I’m continuing to watch our presidency and watch how every new development is handled. I continue to watch our leaders in government, and like all Americans, I continue to be hopeful that our leaders exhibit poise, perspective and the ability to bring our country together during these tough times — which I don’t feel our presidency is currently doing — so that’s where I’m at.”
This week, to support Blackout Tuesday, Johnson posted an image of a black square on his Instagram account, like many people around the world did to show solidarity with protesters. He posted messages from his production company, Seven Bucks Productions, and his Teremana Tequila business.
“We have a deep accountability to our Black community, and we demand equality,” he wrote.
Johnson also posted a photo last week with a quote from Floyd, “I can’t breathe,” along with a lengthy caption with his thoughts on the tragedy.
“Where’s the greater accountability? The leadership to healing. More importantly, the leadership to EQUALITY. We ultimately win when we can normalize equality,” he wrote. “I’m so sorry to the Floyd family. My heart breaks for you.”
From Johnson’s Instagram post:
Past few days I’ve been stunned trying to make sense of George Floyd’s death. The video. The plea for breath. The callous response. The racism. The killing. This is our ongoing disease. I’ve had cops in my family. Good men. And there’s a cop code, granting you the authority to use force if your life is in danger. But when a man is handcuffed, on the ground, no longer a threat, with your brothers in arms standing around watching and he struggles to say, “please I can’t breathe” when your knee is on his neck.. not his back, but his neck – cutting off his air. Cop code must become moral code. Ethics code. HUMANITY code. Knowing that if you don’t ease up, then that man is going to die. So when you decide to not ease up, your intention is to kill. And that’s what this was. George Floyd, said “officer I can’t breathe” as he struggled for air. He said these words a total of 15 times. Not once. Not twice. 15 times. These officers will be charged, I’m positive of that. Held accountable. But then where’s the greater accountability? The leadership to healing. More importantly, the leadership to EQUALITY. We ultimately win when we can normalize equality. I’m so sorry to the Floyd family. My heart breaks for you. Let the process begin now. #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #NormalizeEquality
When Nathan Caraway joined a protest in Columbus, Ohio, he was going as a white man who wanted to help his city’s activists be safely heard, he said. But online, he was accused of more nefarious intentions.On Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, Caraway’s been called an anarchist and an Antifa organizer. Police called him a “person of interest.” Twitter users claimed he was instigating violence — accusations he strongly denies.”My mission was to go support the people who were there to let their voice be heard and to express that I’m an ally,” Caraway told CNN on Tuesday. “That was my only intention.”The 32-year-old Ohio native shot to infamy this week when he was seen in a widely shared video speaking to a group of black men during Saturday’s protest. “We’re building a barricade. Go get everything you can find,” Caraway can be heard saying. He appears to hand some money to one man out of his wallet.It’s unclear where the video originated. But what’s clear is how quickly it spread and where it wound up. After it was tweeted by many people, including conservatives such as podcaster Wayne Dupree, the Columbus Division of Police posted pictures of Caraway to Facebook, asking the public for help finding this “person of interest.”
In the comments of its post, the division linked to a YouTube video that claimed Caraway was a “Columbus Antifa paying people to do tasks in riots,” and on Twitter, thanked one of the people who tweeted the clip for tagging them.Local media carried the police’s message and the images of Caraway’s face even further.Then the President stepped in.”Anarchists, we see you!” President Donald Trump said in a tweet accompanying the video Monday, using a term long used as a fill in for leftist extremists, helping the clip rack up over 12 million views with hundreds of thousands of likes.After the President’s tweet, things took an especially nasty turn, Caraway said. His name and address were leaked online, and he’s received death threats. He even had a scary real-life encounter.
“Two individuals started chasing the vehicle I was in due to that misunderstanding,” Caraway said. “And that didn’t happen until after President Trump had shared that tweet because I believe he has one of the most powerful voices on the internet.”The Columbus Division of Police have since updated their social media posts to say they’ve identified the man in the video. On Twitter they said, “This person has been identified. Thank you for your assistance.” Caraway’s lawyer, attorney Sean Walton, said they haven’t been contacted by the police and his client hasn’t been charged. He said they did stop by Caraway’s house, but he wasn’t home.The Columbus Division of Police did not respond to CNN’s multiple requests for comment. A spokeswoman for the US Attorney’s Office Southern District of Ohio said it would not comment on any matters potentially under investigation.
What the video shows
Caraway admits that, yes, he was hoping to help the protesters build a barricade — but that was for their defense.And while the video does show him seeming to hand over some money, a moment that has been interpreted as Caraway paying people to riot and be violent against the police, he says he had asked the men to buy supplies to set up a wash station for people who had been pepper sprayed.
“I took it upon myself to build a wash station for the street medics who could help clean people’s faces off. I had asked some young men that I had seen on bicycles if they would be willing to go fetch some supplies like water, baking soda, baby wipes and milk,” Caraway said, noting that he handed them $60 to buy the supplies from stores that were still open further up north.”I only had given the money because they had stated that they would be willing to help, but they didn’t have money,” he added. “Before they left (I asked them) to help me build a barricade.”Eric Stonewall, 22, was also at the protest. He saw Caraway there.”As soon as I saw him identified as a person of interest, I was frustrated,” Stonewall told CNN. While the two don’t know each other personally, Stonewall said they interacted briefly at the protest.”In terms of what I saw, honestly more than anything he was helpful and respectful. He came up to me and some other people saying that we need to help others get more cover with loose boards and trash cans,” he said. “Someone tried to empty out a trash can, but he said, ‘Grab the empty ones. We’re not trying to make a mess.'”
His first time at a protest, he says
This was the first time Caraway, who works as an extractor at a medical cannabis company, participated in any sort of protest, Caraway told CNN.Through his lawyer, Caraway said he has no political affiliation and was only doing what he could to help others. “Nathan is not a member of any organization whatsoever, let alone Antifa or any other group,” his lawyer Sean Walton said.Daniel Ortiz, a pastor who’s known Caraway for over two years, told CNN, “My heart broke for him. I know him and I know that’s not the type of person he is. He’s justice-oriented. He wants to help others and bridge the gap between people. He’s not a divider. He’s a uniter.”
Caraway and his lawyers did not comment on whether they will be taking any legal action towards anyone. What they want to do first and foremost is clear his name, his other lawyer Jalyn Parks said.”For him to literally be in the act of trying to help people and better his community. With one video, he’s been vilified and afraid for his life,” Parks added. “The goal here is to tell his story so that people know and understand some of the consequences of spreading misinformation.”While he’s still in fear for his life, Caraway said he has forgiven all parties involved in spreading the misinformation, including Trump.”I forgive him and I have no resentment in my heart,” Caraway said regarding Trump. “I’d like to see his office make our country a better place.”Google, which owns YouTube, did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Twitter said they were looking into the video and corresponding tweets on Tuesday afternoon.
Trump and allies shift the blame
The claims that an anarchist or member of the Antifa, which stands for anti-fascists, was caught on tape comes as the second week of nationwide protests continues following the death of George Floyd, some on the right have sought to blame Antifa for the violence.Federal law enforcement officials have said that they are aware of outside groups using the protests as a cover to destroy property and incite violence, and Trump has pointed to far-left groups as responsible for that, though without offering evidence.
The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.
He has even tried to designate Antifa, short for anti-fascists, as domestic terrorists, despite the loose network of activist groups having no clear coordination or leadership and the clear constitutional concerns such a designation would surely invite.
CNN’s Evan Perez, Jason Hoffman, Donnie O’Sullivan and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump’s youngest daughter captioned her post on Tuesday with a quote from the author and activist, Helen Keller: “Alone we can achieve so little; together we can achieve so much.”
She also shared the #blackoutTuesday and #justiceforgeorgefloyd hashtags.
Love Island star Charlie Brake has deleted his Twitter account after being called a racist for a tweet he sent out.
The 25 year old millionaire provoked anger after retweeting and commenting on an inflammatory tweet from Donald Trump which was referring to Americans rioting in the wake of George Floyd being killed by a police officer.
Self-proclaimed billionaire originally tweeted: “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen.”
Trump went on to suggest that anybody looting would be shot by law officials, writing: “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!”
The tweet, which was widely condemned, was then shared by Charlie as he commented: “Moral of the story… don’t loot or thieve. SIMPLE.”
Following Charlie’s controversial opinion hundreds of Twitter users slammed his tweet and labelled him a racist.
British rapper Fredo said: “It will be real life when I see u racist p***y”, while another user said: “Lol why did @charlie_brake delete his tweet? If you’re going to chat nonsense say it with your chest! We all see you hun. #racist”.
A third added: “Why is the rich white kid trying to talk on issues with black people that he has no idea about? smh”.
As the criticism towards the Love Islander continued Charlie deleted his Twitter account but later posted an explanation for his actions on Instagram.
He wrote: “About my post yesterday. It was absolutely not my intention to cause offence. Straight off, I want to say I am sorry and I did not understand the full picture of an incredibly serious situation.
“I don’t think my ignorance should be an excuse and I don’t want to make excuses. This is an apology.”
It was just before 1AM early Friday morning, and President Donald Trump was awake and tweeting. Responding to the looting and rioting that broke out in Minneapolis over George Floyd’s death in police custody there, Trump wrote that the U.S. military is with the state’s governor Tim Walz “all the way” and that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Twitter decided the tweet “glorified violence” and violated its user policies, and appended a note saying so to Trump’s feed.
Trump was incensed.
The moment showcased Trump’s habitual instinct to press on the sorest spots of American public debate, and to use Twitter to do it. It also highlighted the tension between Trump’s reliance on the social media platform to broadcast his instant reaction to events and the challenge Twitter is facing when it comes to how far to let Trump’s speech go.
Twitter drew Trump’s ire earlier in the week when, for the first time, it began directing users to news sites fact-checking the President’s misleading assertions made on the platform about voting by mail. He demanded aides quickly write an order for him to sign that would revisit how much liability social media companies face for content posted on their site, a review that — ironically — could put pressure on companies to restrict more speech like Trump’s and not less.
Trump’s campaign and political rise have relied on social media platforms, but he’s also been a regular voice blasting social media companies for what he says is a bias against conservative speech. It’s a tension that’s playing out in real time as social media companies face public pressure to limit the spread of incendiary, hateful or false information online, including when it comes from the President.
Social media seems tailor-made for Trump’s instinctive talent to grab headlines, says Julian Zelizer, a historian at Princeton University. “He understands what goes viral,” Zelizer says. “Each time he does this, he understands that even if it’s bad press, it’s press for him. It’s better than headlines about the pandemic and the death toll which fall on his shoulders.”
During Trump’s political ascent in 2016, the American public witnessed him use Twitter like few American politicians had before, venting grievances, insulting rivals and floating off-the cuff policy ideas. But except for President Trump’s own use, Trump’s campaign rolled back its reliance on Twitter after the 2016 election, campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement on Friday. “We have known for a long time that social media companies have it in for conservatives in general and President Trump specifically,” Parscale said. “There are various reasons we pulled our massive advertising spending from Twitter months ago, and their obvious political bias is one of them.”
When asked to elaborate on Parscale’s statement, a Trump campaign official said the Trump campaign pulled spending with Twitter in 2017 and spent no money advertising with the company in 2018. “After begging us, we told Twitter some things they’d have to do for us to test again, they did and we spent $6K in 2019,” the official said. The official did not say whether the campaign plans to make further adjustments to its Twitter strategy in light of the latest controversy.
Trump on Thursday said Twitter is making “editorial decisions” by pointing readers to fact checks of his tweets. “In those moments, Twitter ceases to be a neutral public platform, they become an editor with a viewpoint. I think we can say that about others also, whether you’re looking at Google, whether you’re looking at Facebook and perhaps others,” Trump said.
Indeed, some critics saw Trump’s executive order this week as a way to intimidate other social media companies going forward and make them think twice about limiting or fact-checking Trump’s messaging on their platforms. Facebook and other online platforms remain a significant part of the campaign’s strategy to amplify the President’s message, collect data to mobilize supporters and organize volunteers.
“His call to punish Twitter for its fact-checking of his blatantly false statements is akin to threatening to shut down a newspaper or a TV network for a report considered unfriendly,” said Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, a non-profit that advocates for freedom of speech. “He isn’t protecting free speech; he is chilling it.”
But even if his campaign says Twitter isn’t central to the President’s political strategy heading into November, old habits die hard. Facing a backlash that his early morning tweet was encouraging deadly force and echoed slogans linked to deadly police practices in the late-1960s, where did Trump go to clarify his statement? Twitter.
“Looting leads to shooting,” Trump tweeted, pointing to shootings in Minneapolis and Louisville, Kentucky. “I don’t want this to happen, and that’s what the expression put out last night means.” A few minutes later, White House reporters were ready to ask President Trump in person what his tweets meant, but he didn’t take questions.
(CNN)Over and over again in 2018, during an apology tour that took him from the halls of the US Congress to an appearance before the European Parliament, Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook had failed to “take a broad enough view of our responsibilities.”But two years later, Zuckerberg and Facebook are still struggling with their responsibilities and how to handle one of their most famous users: President Donald Trump.Despite Zuckerberg having previously indicated any post that “incites violence” would be a line in the sand — even if it came from a politician — Facebook remained silent for hours Friday after Trump was accused of glorifying violence in posts that appeared on its platforms.At 12:53am ET on Friday morning, as cable news networks carried images of fires and destructive protests in Minneapolis, the President tweeted: “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!”His phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” mirrors language used by a Miami police chief in the late 1960s in the wake of riots. Its use was immediately condemned by a wide array of individuals, from historians to members of rival political campaigns. Former Vice President and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden said Trump was “calling for violence against American citizens during a moment of pain for so many.”close dialog
Work Transformed is your guide to navigating this new normal. Sign up for tips and tactics from CNN Business.Sign Me UpNo, ThanksBy subscribing you agree to ourprivacy policy.Twitter decided to affix a warning label to Trump’s tweet — and an identical tweet later posted by the official White House Twitter account — for the first time, indicating that it violated the platform’s rule against glorifying violence.But the exact same message, saying “looting” will lead to “shooting” and referencing “THUGS,” was posted to Trump’s Facebook account at 1:10am ET, just a few minutes after his initial tweet. The President’s message was also posted to Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.As of publication, the posts remained up on both platforms without any label. And while Trump may be more closely associated with his Twitter account, he still has tens of millions of followers on Facebook. His Facebook post has been shared more than 47,000 times and had more than 200,000 reactions and the Instagram post had more than 300,000 likes.Facebook did not comment Friday morning on whether it would do anything about the posts.Facebook’s inaction on the posts so far is just the latest example highlighting a diverging approach between two of the most prominent social networks in how they handle some of Trump’s most controversial posts.While Twitter came under fire earlier this week from some Republicans after adding a fact-check label to Trump’s false tweets about mail-in voting fraud, Facebook did nothing. Instead, Zuckerberg went on Fox News to criticize Twitter.“We have a different policy than, I think, Twitter on this,” Zuckerberg said “I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online.”Facebook appeared to be leaning on its previously declared policy of not fact-checking politicians. But Zuckerberg has said there would be some exceptions to that controversial policy, including the threat of violence.”Even for politicians we don’t allow content that incites violence or risks imminent harm — and of course we don’t allow voter suppression,” Zuckerberg said in a speech in Washington last year.
It’s another chapter in President Trump’s love-hate relationship with Twitter. In the wake of the social media company’s decision to fact-check his tweets for the first time, Trump responded with a series of threats and jibes against the company.
Trump claims Twitter – arguably his preferred platform for communication – is stifling free speech after it prompted readers of two of his tweets to check facts on his claims. The president promised “Big action” against the company.
Twitter has now shown that everything we have been saying about them (and their other compatriots) is correct. Big action to follow!
The initial tweets said that mail-in ballots are “substantially fraudulent,” a claim that has been repeatedly debunked.
It’s far from the first time the president has mentioned Twitter (TWTR) and also not the first time he has threatened it.
In fact, according to trumptwitterarchive.com, the president has directly mentioned the company almost 200 times on the platform itself since he began his account in 2009.
As they say, there’s always a tweet. Here’s some notable mentions of the company over the years.
I love Twitter…. it's like owning your own newspaper— without the losses.
Accusations that the ‘Radical Left is in total command & control’
In recent years, Trump has most often brought up the company to complain about what he sees as conservative bias. In 2019, he held a “social media summit” to talk about bias.
Earlier this month, in a typical tweet, he said that he wants to “remedy this illegal situation.”
The Radical Left is in total command & control of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google. The Administration is working to remedy this illegal situation. Stay tuned, and send names & events. Thank you Michelle! https://t.co/ZQfcfD3Hk9
Trump has threatened legal action against the company multiple times in spite of little evidence of any sort of systemic bias. He often mentions the forces he sees allied against him, like so-called “shadow banning” of his political allies.
Twitter “SHADOW BANNING” prominent Republicans. Not good. We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints.
Even while decrying when his allies have their accounts frozen, he’s pushed for the banning of his perceived opponents.
When will the Radical Left Wing Media apologize to me for knowingly getting the Russia Collusion Delusion story so wrong? The real story is about to happen! Why is @nytimes, @washingtonpost, @CNN, @MSNBC allowed to be on Twitter & Facebook. Much of what they do is FAKE NEWS!
Trump’s tone has veered in a positive direction in response to personal outreach from the company. In 2019 Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey traveled to Washington to discuss the issue of supposed anti-conservative bias. The trip earned a friendly tweet in response.
Great meeting this afternoon at the @WhiteHouse with @Jack from @Twitter. Lots of subjects discussed regarding their platform, and the world of social media in general. Look forward to keeping an open dialogue! pic.twitter.com/QnZi579eFb
It was a similar pattern during the 2016 campaign. Then-candidate Trump was invited to participate in a video Q&A at Twitter’s New York headquarters. He discussed topics from Israel to Tony Romo and apparently enjoyed the appearance enough to tweet positive mentions.
Trump’s use of the platform has been well documented as a key ingredient – perhaps the key ingredient – in his political rise. One analyst famously even said in 2017 that the account was worth $2 billion to Twitter’s valuation.
President Donald Trump and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions exchanged barbs on Twitter as Sessions runs for his old seat in the Senate. The feud stems from Sessions recusing himself from the Russia investigation, which led to involving a special counsel. NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reports for Sunday TODAY.
