Twitter Disables Trump Campaign George Floyd Memorial, Claims “Copyright Complaint”

Though Twitter took down the President's video, YouTube has kept it published on its platform.

YouTube has notoriously strict copyright laws.

With that being said, some observers think that if there truly was a copyright issue, then YouTube would have taken down the video before Twitter.

But Twitter, which has recently appeared to "censor" President Trump via "fact check," is the only social media platform that has banned the video.

You can view President Trump's "Healing, Not Hatred" campaign video below:

Many conservatives fear that Twitter has been openly hostile towards President Trump.

Though Democrats claim that "Russian interference" impacted the 2016 election, social media censorship could certainly tilt the election this November.

It's critical that our social media allows freedom of speech on their platforms.

After all, they are PLATFORMS, not publishers!

The Hill confirms that Twitter has appeared to "sanction" President Trump:

Twitter on Thursday removed a video tribute to George Floyd posted by President Trump’s reelection campaign, claiming it had run afoul of the website’s policy on copyrighted material.

The Team Trump account tweeted out a nearly four-minute long video that is narrated by a speech the president gave a few days after Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody.

In the video, the president can be heard lamenting the “grave tragedy” of Floyd’s death over images of Floyd and peaceful protesters mourning his death.

Later in the video, the president warns about “violence and anarchy” from “radical leftwing groups” over images of riots and looting. He also describes the vast majority of law enforcement officials as “devoted public servants” as the video shows images of police officers hugging civilians and people cleaning up graffiti and garbage in the streets.

The Team Trump video was retweeted by Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr., before it was removed with a message that said: “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”

The Trump campaign says it reached out to Twitter to ask who had complained about the video and how it had run afoul of the website’s copyright policy.

“This incident is yet another reminder that Twitter is making up the rules as they go along," said Andrew Clark, a spokesman for the Trump campaign. "From the dubious removal of the hilarious Nickelback video to capricious fact checks and manipulated media labels to questionable claims of copyright, Twitter has repeatedly failed to explain why their rules seem to only apply to the Trump campaign but not to others. Censoring out the president’s important message of unity around the George Floyd protests is an unfortunate escalation of this double standard.”

A Twitter spokesperson told The Hill they received a complaint from a copyright owner of at least one of the images in the video, although it’s unclear which one. Harvard University's Lumen Database, a third-party research group Twitter uses to study cease and desist letters, reviewed the complaint and found it to be valid under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Twitter’s latest move to sanction the Trump campaign’s content comes amid heightened tensions between the social media giant and the president.

Can you imagine Twitter removing a George Floyd memorial posted by Joe Biden?

For us, that scenario is difficult to imagine.

President Trump was loved and well-received among Hollywood elites and the black community until he ran for President.

It's not because he changed.

Rather, it's because the media has chosen to portray Trump in the worst light possible.

The fact that Twitter disabled President Trump's inspiring George Floyd memorial means that most Americans on Twitter will never know that Trump has attempted to mend the national divid.

Instead, they will only see proclamations in the media that Trump is "divisive."

Politico confirms that Twitter disabled the Trump campaign's tweet:

Twitter took down video tributes to George Floyd tweeted by the Trump campaign over a copyright complaint on Thursday, sparking the latest dustup between the social media company and President Donald Trump to draw the ire of him and his allies.

The pair of tweets posted by the @TeamTrump and @TrumpWarRoom 2020 campaign accounts on Wednesday included videos narrated by Trump discussing Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, which the president calls a “grave tragedy” that “should never have happened.”

The nearly four-minute long video takes a more political turn one minute in, with Trump railing against activist group antifa and “other radical left-wing groups” for what he described as “terrorizing the innocent” at the nationwide protests in the wake of Floyd’s death.

Twitter left up the posts but removed the videos and placed an overlay on them that reads, “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”

Twitter spokesperson Lauren Alexander said it took the action because of a copyright complaint under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The company did not provide further details.

A third-party research firm that tracks copyright complaints, Lumen Database, said the notice originated from the Law Office of Sam Koolaq in Burbank, Calif., but provided no further details.

Trump’s campaign blasted the move in a tweet Thursday. “Twitter and @Jack are censoring this uplifting and unifying message from President Trump after the #GeorgeFloyd tragedy,” the campaign tweeted from the @TeamTrump account.

It will be interesting to see what new details around this alleged "copyright complaint" come to light.

Is the copyright complaint legitimate?

Was Twitter overreacting?

Like any other controversial situation, the truth will eventually come out in the end.