Twitter hides Trump tweet for 'glorifying violence'

Twitter has hidden one of President Donald Trump's tweets from his profile, saying it violates rules about glorifying violence, reports the BBC.

But instead of being deleted, it has been replaced with a warning and can be viewed by clicking on it.

The warning says "Twitter has determined that it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain accessible."

It is the latest in an escalating row between Twitter and the White House.

Mr Trump was tweeting about the US city of Minneapolis, which has seen consecutive nights of protests following the death of a black man in police custody.

The president said he would "send in the National Guard", and followed that up with a warning that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."

Advertisement

That second tweet was hidden by Twitter for "glorifying violence".

Twitter's policy of adding a warning to, rather than deleting, tweets that break its rules when it comes to major public figures was announced in mid-2019. But the social network has never used it on Mr Trump - nor deleted any of his tweets before.

"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."

It comes hours after President Trump signed an executive order aimed at removing some of the legal protections given to social media platforms.

Earlier this week, Twitter used its fact-checking function to attach warnings to the president's tweets for the first time. That led the President to threaten to "shut down" the social networks over allegedly stifling free speech.

The executive order signed by Mr Trump has no immediate effect on the social networks, however - it instead begins a lengthy process that may result in changes down the line.