Twitter: We Are Exploring Adding "Context" to Trump Tweets That Violate Our Rules

It’s no secret that Democrats have been trying to get President Trump either suspended or banned from various social media platforms since before he was even elected.

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Totally in the name of civility and respectful debate, of course.

To date, those efforts have been unsuccessful. But one of the left-leaning platforms suggested this week they were looking at ways to “label” any Trump tweets they deemed violated their terms of service without having to take down the supposed offensive content or account entirely.

The Washington Post reports:

Twitter is exploring how it can annotate offensive tweets that break its rules but remain in the public interest, said Vijaya Gadde, the company’s head of legal, policy, and trust and safety. It’s an effort to stem offensive content and hate speech and follows comments last year by chief executive Jack Dorsey, who said he is rethinking core parts of the platform to stem harassment and other abuses.

“One of the things we’re working really closely on with our product and engineering folks is, ‘How can we label that?’ ” Gadde said in a response to questions from the Post’s Silicon Valley correspondent, Elizabeth Dwoskin. “How can we put some context around it so people are aware that that content is actually a violation of our rules and it is serving a particular purpose in remaining on the platform.”

The Hill noted that “Gadde was responding to a question about whether Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants on Twitter.” So she was definitely talking about Trump and other political and high-profile figures like him, even though she didn’t mention him by name.

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CNN‘s write-up on Gadde’s comments was especially humorous considering the example they used of the types of tweets they clearly believe need to be flagged (bolded emphasis added):

Twitter has come under fire from some critics who say President Donald Trump’s tweets often violate its rules against bullying, dehumanization and threatening harm.

[…]

Trump regularly insults people on Twitter. He called a former staffer a “dog” and posted an altered video from a WWE wrestling match showing Trump beating up a man with a CNN logo superimposed on his head.

To be sure, the issue they had with the video (seen below) Trump tweeted wasn’t the fact that it depicted Trump beating anyone up. It was because it went viral, and tapped into the deep distrust that so many people have for the long-running 24-hour news network.

Them going after the person who created the video didn’t help them, either.

But I digress.

Also from CNN‘s report on Gadde’s remarks:

Gadde said Twitter is considering limiting the visibility of dehumanizing tweets. A user would have to click through in order to view the tweet.

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Twitter can, of course, display tweets however it wants to since it is a private company. But what Gadde is suggesting about them labeling so-called “rule-violating” tweets from public figures and “limiting visibility” is not going to make anyone happy.

Not unhinged liberals who want Trump off of social media altogether, and not conservatives who will view the proposed moves as just another way Democrat-friendly social media platforms will play favorites by selectively applying the anticipated new rules.

What could go wrong?

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Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter.–

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