(Editors: Please note second paragraph language that readers may find offensive)
By Elizabeth Culliford
(Reuters) – Twitter Inc on Wednesday labeled a video shared by U.S. President Donald Trump of Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden as “manipulated media.”
The video, which appeared to show Biden playing rap group NWA’s song, “Fuck tha Police,” now displays a warning that links to collated tweets showing the actual event, where Biden pulled out his phone to play Luis Fonsi’s hit “Despacito” at a Hispanic Heritage Month event in Florida after being introduced by Fonsi.
Trump has cast himself as a “law-and-order” president during the campaign, in response to widespread protests, most of them peaceful, following the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis. He tweeted with the edited video: “What is this all about?”
A Twitter spokeswoman said the video, which garnered more than 2.8 million views, was labeled based on its synthetic and manipulated media policy. The United Spot, self-described as making satirical videos, posted the original tweet.
Twitter has previously attached labels to tweets posted and shared by the president, including adding fact-checking notices on his tweets containing misleading information about mail-in ballots.
The Trump campaign and the Biden campaign did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Culliford, Editing by Howard Goller)
