By Judi McLeod ——Bio and Archives--May 27, 2020
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You can get away with calling on wing-nuts with specifics on a lethal way to murder the president of the United States on Twitter as deranged comedian Kathy Griffin just did—but will be flagged by Twitter ‘fact checkers’ for posting tweets that call mail-in ballots “fraudulent” and predicting that “mail boxes will be robbed” if you’re President Donald Trump.
“Comedian and perennial Trump antagonist Kathy Griffin is advocating for the physical assault of the president, tweeting that she wants someone to stab the commander in chief with a “syringe with nothing but air inside” — a potentially lethal act if it creates an embolism. (Breitbart, May 27, 2020)“We will immediately and permanently suspend any account found to be posting violent threats,” the social media giant says on its official site.”Oh, yeah? Then how come Griffin’s Tuesday Tweet with a most descriptive means to take down the President of the U.S. is still riding high on Twitter Wednesday morning? “For the first time, Twitter has flagged some of President Donald Trump’s tweets with a fact-check warning. ( Yahoo, May 27, 2020)
“On Tuesday, Twitter added a warning phrase to two Trump tweets that called mail-in ballots “fraudulent” and predicted that “mail boxes will be robbed,” among other things. Under the tweets, there is now a link reading “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” that guides users to a Twitter “moments” page with fact checks and news stories about Trump’s unsubstantiated claims.
“Until now, the president has simply blown past Twitter’s half-hearted attempts to enforce rules intended to promote civility and “healthy” conversation on its most prominent user. Trump frequently amplifies misinformation, spreads abuse and uses his pulpit to personally attack private citizens and public figures alike — all forbidden under Twitter’s official rules. (Yahoo)In a statement, Twitter said Trump’s vote-by-mail tweets “contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labeled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots.”
“Over the weekend, the president issued several tweets calling into question the legality of mail-in-ballots. The storm of tweets followed Facebook and Twitter posts from Trump last week that wrongly claimed Michigan’s secretary of state mailed ballots to 7.7 million registered voters. Trump later deleted the tweet and posted an edited version that still threatened to hold up federal funds. (Breitbart, May 27, 2020) “Twitter policy forbids sharing “false or misleading information intended to intimidate or dissuade people from participating in an election or other civic process.” While it has previously flagged tweets, it has never before put warnings on tweets for any other reason.
“Trump replied on Twitter, accusing the platform of “interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election” and insisting that “as president, I will not allow this to happen.”
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Twitter says in its terms of service that “you may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people. We also prohibit the glorification of violence.” The company said it defines violent threats as “statements of an intent to kill or inflict serious physical harm on a specific person or group of people.” (Breitbart) “Federal law states that individuals who physically threaten the president can face up to five years in prison.That’s the latest political Twitter antics in the U.S.
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