<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Two police officers have been charged with felony assault after pushing 75-year-old Martin Gugino to the ground in a widely circulated video where he can be seen bleeding as police officers walk by. Gugino remains hospitalized from his injuries.” data-reactid=”24″>Two police officers have been charged with felony assault after pushing 75-year-old Martin Gugino to the ground in a widely circulated video where he can be seen bleeding as police officers walk by. Gugino remains hospitalized from his injuries.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Trump baselessly made a range of claims, from saying that Gugino “could be an ANTIFA provocateur” to suggesting he “fell harder than was pushed.” The president wrapped up with the question of whether it all “[c]ould be a set up?”” data-reactid=”25″>Trump baselessly made a range of claims, from saying that Gugino “could be an ANTIFA provocateur” to suggesting he “fell harder than was pushed.” The president wrapped up with the question of whether it all “[c]ould be a set up?”
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="In the hours following the roundly condemned tweet, CEO Jack Dorsey’s mentions were flooded with calls for action but Twitter (TWTR) has not responded.” data-reactid=”26″>In the hours following the roundly condemned tweet, CEO Jack Dorsey’s mentions were flooded with calls for action but Twitter (TWTR) has not responded.
Here, according to experts, is why the company is unlikely to do so.
<h2 class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="‘Is this sufficiently bad enough?’” data-reactid=”39″>‘Is this sufficiently bad enough?’
In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Jesse Blumenthal, who leads Technology & Innovation policy at Stand Together and the Charles Koch Institute, made sure to state off the top that “obviously, the president’s tweet this morning is abhorrent.”
He then laid out why Twitter has few options for how to take action consistent with their policies.
“Every time the president tweets something offensive, there’s going to be a question of: is this sufficiently bad enough,” Blumenthal said. But he added, “this is an example of the broader problem of Twitter trying to insert itself as arbiters of truth.”
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Twitter has posted about its “principles & approach” to the accounts of world leaders saying they are subject to enforcement actions in response to things like “[c]lear and direct threats of violence against an individual.”” data-reactid=”43″>Twitter has posted about its “principles & approach” to the accounts of world leaders saying they are subject to enforcement actions in response to things like “[c]lear and direct threats of violence against an individual.”
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Twitter’s rules also have provisions against “targeted harassment of someone.”” data-reactid=”44″>Twitter’s rules also have provisions against “targeted harassment of someone.”
He’s not just heinous but crafted this attack so Twitter could do little. It’s still Alex Jones but using auxiliary verbs to protect his rank cruelty. https://t.co/fYAZlW0sFq
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) June 9, 2020
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content=""It's just not clear what policy this would violate," says Daniel Kreiss, an associate professor of media and communication at the University of North Carolina. "To me, it’s just a bunch of innuendo.”” data-reactid=”47″>”It’s just not clear what policy this would violate,” says Daniel Kreiss, an associate professor of media and communication at the University of North Carolina. “To me, it’s just a bunch of innuendo.”
“These things are inherently subjective judgement calls,” Blumenthal says, noting that “it can’t be that Jack Dorsey’s job becomes moderating Donald Trump’s Twitter account.”
<h2 class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Twitter’s past actions” data-reactid=”49″>Twitter’s past actions
In recent weeks, Twitter has taken action against Trump’s account twice.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Once, it added blue lettering to the bottom of a tweet about voting by mail and urged people to “get the facts” about Trump’s false claims. A second action came against a tweet the company noted was “glorifying violence.”” data-reactid=”51″>Once, it added blue lettering to the bottom of a tweet about voting by mail and urged people to “get the facts” about Trump’s false claims. A second action came against a tweet the company noted was “glorifying violence.”
Twitter did not take action when Trump targeted MSNBC host Joe Scarborough. Those tweets baselessly implied that Scarborough might have had something to do with the death of a staff member in 2001.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="The woman’s widower asked Twitter to remove the conspiracy theory in a letter but the company responded by saying the post would remain up, though it was “deeply sorry” for the pain caused.” data-reactid=”64″>The woman’s widower asked Twitter to remove the conspiracy theory in a letter but the company responded by saying the post would remain up, though it was “deeply sorry” for the pain caused.
<h2 class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Differing approaches from Twitter and Facebook” data-reactid=”65″>Differing approaches from Twitter and Facebook
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Trump, as usual, also posted his Tuesday message about Martin Gugino to Facebook (FB). ” data-reactid=”66″>Trump, as usual, also posted his Tuesday message about Martin Gugino to Facebook (FB).
Few expect the company to take action. Zuckerberg, Facebook’s co-founder and CEO, has talked about how the social networking giant approaches controversial posts differently.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="“We have a different policy I think than Twitter on this,” he said in a Fox News interview. “I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online.”” data-reactid=”83″>“We have a different policy I think than Twitter on this,” he said in a Fox News interview. “I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online.”
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content=""To me, what's truly a failure is Facebook," says Kreiss about the company’s overall policy toward the president. Kreiss says Facebook leaves up posts – specifically Trump’s post about looters – that "clearly violate their standards."” data-reactid=”84″>”To me, what’s truly a failure is Facebook,” says Kreiss about the company’s overall policy toward the president. Kreiss says Facebook leaves up posts – specifically Trump’s post about looters – that “clearly violate their standards.”
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Facebook’s policies read quite similar to Twitter’s but have been enforced differently. Twitter’s approach, says Kreiss, is to "meet speech with counter speech."” data-reactid=”85″>Facebook’s policies read quite similar to Twitter’s but have been enforced differently. Twitter’s approach, says Kreiss, is to “meet speech with counter speech.”
Kreiss advocates a “pretty narrowly tailored line” on the president’s tweets. He would specifically target messages that pass along misinformation about things like elections and the Census. “Anyone vying to be elected or currently holding office,” who seeks to “undermine their own process that the public has to hold them accountable,” should be fact checked, he says.
The core problem, says Blumenthal, is people want the president’s tweets to stop but “the normal mechanisms of shame” which govern other politicians “have broken down.”
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Ben Werschkul is a producer for Yahoo Finance in Washington, DC.” data-reactid=”88″>Ben Werschkul is a producer for Yahoo Finance in Washington, DC.
Read more:
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Trump’s ‘glorifying violence’ tweet is available without a label on Instagram and Facebook” data-reactid=”90″>Trump’s ‘glorifying violence’ tweet is available without a label on Instagram and Facebook
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Twitter adds ‘glorifying violence’ warning to Trump tweet” data-reactid=”91″>Twitter adds ‘glorifying violence’ warning to Trump tweet
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Donald Trump’s love-hate relationship Twitter over the past 8 years” data-reactid=”92″>Donald Trump’s love-hate relationship Twitter over the past 8 years
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance” data-reactid=”93″>Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.” data-reactid=”94″>Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.
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