Twitter Inc. placed a notice on a tweet from President Trump, shielding it from view for breaking what the company said are its rules about glorifying violence.
Mr. Trump's tweet was a comment on the violent protests in Minnesota. The post can now only be seen after users click a box with a notice saying it violated Twitter's rules against encouraging violence, but it otherwise remains visible.
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"We've taken action in the interest of preventing others from being inspired to commit violent acts, but have kept the Tweet on Twitter because it is important that the public still be able to see the Tweet given its relevance to ongoing matters of public importance," Twitter said on its official communications account.
The company said users' ability to interact with the tweet will be limited, and that users can retweet it with comment, but not like, reply to, or otherwise retweet it.
"...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!," Mr. Trump's tweet said.
....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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020
The White House wasn't immediately available to comment in the early hours of Friday morning in the U.S. The move by the social media company escalates a dispute with the president that could change the legal environment in which the industry operates. Mr. Trump on Thursday signed an executive order seeking to limit the broad legal protection that federal law currently provides to social-media and other internet platforms, a move expected to draw immediate court challenges.
The president signed the order after Twitter on Tuesday moved for the first time to apply a fact-checking notice to tweets by the president on the subject of voter fraud.
The executive order seeks to make it easier for federal regulators to hold companies like Twitter and Facebook Inc. liable for unfairly curbing speech by suspending users' accounts or deleting their posts, for example.
Speaking just before signing the order Thursday, Mr. Trump accused Twitter of acting as an editor "with a viewpoint" and described the platform's fact-check of his tweets as "political activism."
Twitter's rules against glorification of violence prohibit comments that could inspire others to commit similar acts, or that praise or condone violence where ethnic or racial groups are targeted
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The company also has public interest exceptions under which it may preserve posts that violate its policies when they come from government officials and could contribute to discussion about matters of concern.
"As a result, in rare instances, we may choose to leave up a Tweet from an elected or government official that would otherwise be taken down," Twitter's policy on public interest exceptions says.
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