Trump Tweet About A ‘Racist Baby’ Was Labeled ‘Manipulated Media’ by Twitter

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Twitter on Thursday night labeled a video posted by Donald Trump as “manipulated media,” its latest effort to flag misinformation being shared by the U.S. president.

The social media company took action hours after Trump had posted a video created by pro-Trump meme creator CarpeDonktum, which suggested that CNN had aired a segment with the chyron “Terrified todler (sic) runs from racist baby.”

The meme goes on to claim CNN had manipulated the original video, which showed two toddlers — one Black and one white — hugging. The meme criticizes “fake news,” telling viewers that “only you can prevent fake news dumpster fires.”

CNN responded immediately, saying it “did cover this story — exactly as it happened. Just as we reported your positions on race (and poll numbers). We’ll continue working with facts rather than tweeting fake videos that exploit innocent children. We invite you to do the same. Be better.”

Hours later, Twitter said it placed a “manipulated media” label on Trump’s tweet “to give people more context,” the company said.

However, the video remains live on Trump’s feed and the video has now been viewed more than 12.5 million times.

Twitter’s action on Thursday marks the fourth time in less than a month that it has flagged a tweet by the president of the United States. The company previously censored a tweet for glorifying violence against protesters. Prior to that, it fact-checked two of Trump’s tweets about mail-in voter fraud, a move that enraged the president.

Hours before Trump posted the fake video on Thursday, Facebook announced it had removed a Trump campaign ad for using a Nazi symbol — though the company has repeatedly refused to censor Trump’s own comments on the platform.

READ: Facebook just banned a Trump campaign ad for using a Nazi symbol

The video Trump posted on Thursday was created by CarpeDonktum, a well-known pro-Trump meme creator whose work the president has boosted on social media before. The account holder tweeted his thanks for Trump’s support.

He also pointed out on this Twitter account that he had purposely misspelled the word toddlers in the video, and used a different font so that it would be obvious the video was a meme and not intended to be seen as real.

The CarpeDonktum account was briefly suspended last year for posting a fake video showing Trump shooting and stabbing political rivals and members of the media. The video was taken down after a complaint from the copyright holder for content used in the video.

Cover: President Donald Trump looks at his phone during a roundtable with governors on the reopening of America's small businesses, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Thursday, June 18, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)