Twitter has placed viewing restrictions on a tweet from US President Donald Trump which it describes as a violation of its “policies regarding glorification of violence”.
It also stated in addition to the tweet’s connection to violence, it fears it “could inspire similar actions”.
Trump wrote:
….These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!
Consequently, Twitter stated “engagements with the Tweet will be limited. People will be able to Retweet with Comment, but will not be able to Like, Reply or Retweet it”.
Trump was commenting on the protests against the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, who died while in police custody presumably due to the unwarranted brutality he suffered during his arrest.
The tweet described some of the majority black protesters as thugs and threatened to deploy maximum force to quell the protests.
“When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” Trump wrote in the concluding lines of his tweet.
The quote, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” is said to have originated from a white Miami police chief named Walter Headley who targeted black people in 1967 ahead of the Republican convention.
This is the second time Twitter is flagging a tweet from the US president for violating the rules of the social media platform.
The first had claims which some media outlets have fact-checked and found to be false.