Donald Trump encouraged violence and Twitter said enough. Facebook did nothing.
On Thursday night, after heated protests over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Trump tweeted that he wouldn't let "THUGS" dishonor Floyd's memory. Calling it a dog whistle is too generous; it was plainly racist.
But that's not what caused Twitter to hide Trump's tweet. He also wrote, "Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts." (Emphasis mine.)
Twitter hid the tweet from view on Trump's timeline for "glorifying violence." The tweet remains on the site, however, as Twitter said "it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain accessible." Later, Twitter did the same thing to White House's official account, which shared the same violent message.
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Trump's message, however, is displayed normally on the president's account on Facebook-owned Instagram. It's not hidden from view. There is no warning to his nearly 20 million followers.
The same on Facebook, where more than 29 million people follow his page.
Mashable reached out to Facebook for comment, but it did not immediately respond.
On Friday morning, Trump started a tweetstorm. He said he was being treated unfairly. He tried to excuse his terrible behavior by falsely claiming Democrats act the same way.
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While he was banned for inciting violence, not lying (which he does on Twitter, very often, with no consequences), Trump tried to "both sides" the argument by equating his comments with those of Adam Schiff, who led a legitimate impeachment investigation.
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He also called for the repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which only Congress can do.
This could get much uglier. More than 100,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States. More than 40 million people have filed for unemployment. And there is an election around the corner.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has, finally, done at least something about Trump's violent and false tweets. Nothing drastic, mind you. Just a linked addendum to a lie that discouraged taking part in U.S. elections, and making a tweet that encouraged shooting people slightly less visible.
But that's more than Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has so far been willing to do.
After Twitter very lightly fact-checked Trump, Zuckerberg went on Fox News and said it wouldn't do the same thing because "Facebook shouldn't be the arbiter of truth" online.
It looks like Zuck is going to allow Trump to spread whatever he wants to millions of people. And with Trump's back against the wall, and the election looming, it's hard to imagine the president toning it down. If only Zuckerberg had the will to act.
Topics Facebook Instagram Donald Trump
