Trump's feud with Twitter, explained in 30 seconds
by Bryan Pietsch- President Trump and Twitter have been embroiled in a feud this week over fact-checking, a tweet "glorifying violence," and a 1996 internet law.
- Here's a timeline of the events, explained in 30 seconds.
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The mail-in voting tweets
President Donald Trump tweeted earlier this week about mail-in voting, alleging without evidence that the effort would lead to voter fraud.
"Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed," Trump wrote.
For the first time, Twitter marked the tweet with a small notice that read "Get the facts about mail-in ballots," which linked out to facts-based reporting on the subject.
The executive order
Twitter's fact-check led Trump to issue an executive order targeting social media companies.
The order involves Section 230, part of a 1996 law that gives websites (including companies like Twitter and Facebook) the ability to moderate content on their sites without worrying about First Amendment violations.
Trump signed the order on Thursday, but it's unclear how or if the order will actually be implemented as legal experts have said the move is possibly illegal and difficult to enforce.
The tweets "glorifying violence"
As protests and looting continue in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd after he was kneeled on by a police officer, Trump weighed in on the matter, tweeting: "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."
Twitter put a warning on the tweet that users had to click through before seeing it, saying the tweet violates its policies about "glorifying violence."
But, Twitter left the tweet online because it "determined that it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain accessible."
This marked the first time the company has actually hidden or restricted (but not removed) one of the president's tweets — the mail-in voting tweets were left visible with a small fact-check flag.