Donald Trump’s White House at war with Twitter after platform uses ‘manipulated media’ warning for first time ever on edited video of Joe Biden appearing to say ‘we can only re-elect Donald Trump’

  • The White House’s Director of Social Media Dan Scavino posted a clip of Joe Biden speaking in St. Louis on Saturday 
  • The clip shows Biden stumbling over his words and then he says, ‘We can only re-elect Donald Trump’ 
  • Twitter labeled this clip ‘manipulated media’ saying that it satisfied requirements outlined in a new policy meant to counter the use of deepfakes 
  • Scavino and other conservatives protested that the Biden clip wasn’t ‘manipulated’ but merely truncated 
  • The clip was edited mid-sentence, with Biden actually saying, ‘We can only re-elect Donald Trump if in fact we get engaged in this circular firing squad here’  

By Nikki Schwab, Senior U.s. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com

Published: 17:16 GMT, 9 March 2020 | Updated: 17:54 GMT, 9 March 2020

Conservatives were up in arms after Twitter labeled a video of Joe Biden shared by the White House’s Director of Social Media Dan Scavino ‘manipulated media.’ 

On Saturday, Scavino shared a video clip of ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden speaking in St. Louis, Missouri where he fumbles over the word of his speech and eventually says, ‘We can only re-elect Donald Trump.’ 

The video is shortened so that the rest of Biden’s point is cut off: ‘We can only re-elect Donald Trump if in fact we get engaged in this circular firing squad here.’ 

Twitter has labeled a video retweeted by President Trump 'manipulated media,' as it shows Joe Biden speaking, but cuts him off, so it looks like he endorsed Trump

Twitter has labeled a video retweeted by President Trump ‘manipulated media,’ as it shows Joe Biden speaking, but cuts him off, so it looks like he endorsed Trump   

White House Director of Social Media shared the clip on Saturday and for the first time ever, Twitter labeled something 'manipulated media'

White House Director of Social Media shared the clip on Saturday and for the first time ever, Twitter labeled something 'manipulated media'

White House Director of Social Media shared the clip on Saturday and for the first time ever, Twitter labeled something ‘manipulated media’ 

Dan Scavino protested Twitter's move saying 'this video was NOT manipulated.' The new Twitter policy allows the social media site to apply a label for content that's deceptive

Dan Scavino protested Twitter's move saying 'this video was NOT manipulated.' The new Twitter policy allows the social media site to apply a label for content that's deceptive

Dan Scavino protested Twitter’s move saying ‘this video was NOT manipulated.’ The new Twitter policy allows the social media site to apply a label for content that’s deceptive 

Dan Scavino agreed that Twitter was setting a 'dangerous precedent' by calling something 'manipulated' - when in reality it was just edited so that the context wasn't there

Dan Scavino agreed that Twitter was setting a 'dangerous precedent' by calling something 'manipulated' - when in reality it was just edited so that the context wasn't there

Dan Scavino agreed that Twitter was setting a ‘dangerous precedent’ by calling something ‘manipulated’ – when in reality it was just edited so that the context wasn’t there 

‘It’s got to be a positive campaign,’ the former vice president said. 

Last month, Twitter rolled out a new ‘synthetic and manipulated media policy‘ and the company said it would start enforcing the policy on March 5. 

The policy warns that content may be labeled if it is ‘significantly and deceptively altered or fabricated’ or ‘shared in a deceptive manner.’ 

If the content is likely to ‘impact public safety or cause serious harm’ the policy allows for Twitter to remove the content. 

The policy is supposed to inform users when they’re looking at deepfakes. 

Deepfakes are digitally altered videos where technology is used to literally put words in someone else’s mouth. 

A spokesperson for Twitter confirmed to DailyMail.com that Scavino’s video was labeled based on the new policy. 

This is the first tweet where the label has been applied. 

Turning Point USA's Benny Johnson argued that the content wasn't manipulated, it was merely shortened

Turning Point USA's Benny Johnson argued that the content wasn't manipulated, it was merely shortened

Turning Point USA’s Benny Johnson argued that the content wasn’t manipulated, it was merely shortened 

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr warned that 'established gatekeepers,' in this example Twitter, were reacting to political content they didn't like by labeling it 'doctored deep fakes, illegal content, and deceptive cheap fakes'

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr warned that 'established gatekeepers,' in this example Twitter, were reacting to political content they didn't like by labeling it 'doctored deep fakes, illegal content, and deceptive cheap fakes'

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr warned that ‘established gatekeepers,’ in this example Twitter, were reacting to political content they didn’t like by labeling it ‘doctored deep fakes, illegal content, and deceptive cheap fakes’ 

And due to a technical error, the ‘manipulated media’ warning isn’t showing up every time it’s shared. 

Twitter is working on a fix. 

Scavino and a number of conservative allies have protested that the video clip was labeled this way.         

‘The video was NOT manipulated,’ Scavino tweeted. 

The video was not a deepfake, but it was edited in such a way that it took the former vice president’s comments out of context. 

Scavino also agreed ‘100%’ that Twitter was setting a ‘dangerous precedent’ by calling his clip manipulated. 

Benny Johnson, the chief creative officer for the young conservative group Turning Point USA, argued the ‘video was simply shortened.’ 

‘That means every clip on Twitter is “manipulated,”‘ Johnson argued.  

Brendan Carr, a Trump-appointed commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, also chimed in. 

‘”Disinformation” is the new disinformation,’ he argued. ‘We’re seeing an intentional and coordinated effort by established gatekeepers to equate political speech they don’t like with the entirely separate categories of doctored deep fakes, illegal content, and deceptive cheap fakes,’ he tweeted Sunday night in reference to Scavino’s tweet.  

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