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Twitter Labels Trump Tweet As 'Manipulated Media' (thehill.com) 404

Twitter has flagged a tweet from President Trump as containing "manipulated media" after the president tweeted a clip of a black toddler and a white toddler edited to include a CNN chyron reading "terrified todler[sic] runs from racist baby." The Hill reports: The initial video, which was widely circulated online long before the tweet, shows the two children running towards each other and embracing. It has been edited to include ominous background music and the fictitious CNN headline. The video reverts to the original clip midway through, cutting to a title reading "America is not the problem. Fake news is."

"This tweet has been labeled per our synthetic and manipulated media policy to give people more context," a Twitter spokesperson told The Hill. The tweet marks the third time the social media platform has flagged a tweet by the president.

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Twitter Labels Trump Tweet As 'Manipulated Media'

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  • Faking fake news? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Comrade Ogilvy ( 1719488 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @12:06AM (#60200732)

    If you have to make your argument that CNN is fake with fake evidence, that is an implicit admission that the real problem is CNN is too truthful for your tastes.

    • And suddenly the left somehow doesn't understand parody. Amazing.

      • by Richard_at_work ( 517087 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @12:27AM (#60200770)

        “Oh shit, I got caught trying to throw mud at CNN with a faked video” is so far from “parody” it has its own laws of physics.

        • by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19, 2020 @12:37AM (#60200794)

          Literally nobody with half a brain would believe that it's a real CNN video. It does, however, use CNN's artistic style and framing as a critique of CNN's reporting style through deliberate exaggeration, which is the *definition* of what a parody is.

          • Literally nobody with half a brain would believe that it's a real CNN video

            Well it's a good litmus test for the user base here anyway. We can already see who the brain-dead ones are.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by Anonymous Coward
            most Trump supporters sadly do not have the necessary half a brain to differentiate between trump lies, trump jokes and trump truths. To them they are all just trump truths.
          • by Impy the Impiuos Imp ( 442658 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @08:17AM (#60201768) Journal

            Your reasonable explanation of parody is downmodded to oblivion, while others, including pure namecalling screeds, are upmodded.

            Memes have humans defending them in their attempts to spread.

            People, I throw down the gauntlet. Try to get back to discussion instead of being a cog in what amounts to echo chambers escaped into the wild, complete with censorship frameworks. It's bad enough there are state-sponsored and other large organizations doing this astroturfing, without capture of the common yokel, pressed into dutu on their behalf, unknowingly.

          • by Geoffrey.landis ( 926948 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @09:08AM (#60201958) Homepage

            Literally nobody with half a brain would believe that it's a real CNN video.

            So, you're saying about half of the voting public is going to believe it?

            Reminds me of a story about Adlai Stevenson. Stevenson had a reputation as an intellectual. One of his supporters once said “you have the vote of every thinking person!” And Stevenson replied, “That’s not enough, we need a majority.”

      • Either that or you just really, really suck at it. But feel free to regal me with tales of hilarious right wing comics like.... I gots nothing.
        • by c6gunner ( 950153 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @12:46AM (#60200818) Homepage

          Either that or you just really, really suck at it. But feel free to regal me with tales of hilarious right wing comics like.... I gots nothing.

          Dennis Leary? Adam Sandler? Tim Allen? Norm McDonald? Jeff Dunham? Jeff Foxworthy? Larry the Cable Guy?

          You don't have to tell me that you've got nothing; we are all painfully aware.

          • You think those people are Trump voters? Tim Allen and Larry the Cable Guy maybe but not the others. I would have said Dennis Miller because he's the only truly funny and very conservative person I can think of.
            • I have no idea if they voted for Trump or not, but that was not the question which was posed. Pay attention.

              • by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @02:14AM (#60201020)
                Well the question asked for hilarious comics and you somehow listed Jeff Dunham so I figured we were interpreting it loosely.
                • Comedy is subjective. I'm not a huge Jeff Dunham fan, but he's certainly far better than Lena Dunham, and there are hordes of screeching harpies who seem to find her hilarious. If you think you have an objective way to rank comedians I'd love to hear it (even if it is rather off-topic here).

                • by c6gunner ( 950153 )

                  Quick follow-up; I looked up Jeff Dunham on wikipedia and here is what it says:

                  "As of November 2009, he has sold over four million DVDs, an additional $7 million in merchandise sales,[4] and received more than 350 million hits on YouTube as of October 2009; his introduction of Achmed the Dead Terrorist in Spark of Insanity was ranked as the ninth most watched YouTube video at the time.[1] A Very Special Christmas Special was the most-watched telecast in Comedy Central history, with the DVD selling over 400,

                  • You're talking about Sandler? He's maybe just a millimeter or two right of center, certainly not enough for you to be claiming him for your side. Tim Allen is probably the farthest right on your list and that's because prison changes a man.
              • The question said right-wing. For some of those, you'd have to be fairly far left for them to be on the right. As in off the road and into the landscape left.

          • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @08:41AM (#60201840)
            they just happen to be right. Their routines stay away from politics. Unless you consider anything involving rednecks to be right wing, but The Liberal Redneck might disagree.
      • wtf is "the left"?

        • wtf is "the left"?/quote.

          An ancient classification for a specific type of political party, originating in the French National Assembly in the 1700s. Originally used to indicate revolutionary leanings, though in modern parlance it is more broadly used to indicate those who wish to change society whether through revolution or legislative means.

          Also apparently a bunch of poopy-heads who can't tell the difference between a real video and parody unless twitter points it out to them.

          The more you know!

          • That would make the President part of "the left", what with all those executive orders he signs. Does he not think the video is a parody? He's definitely a poopy-head, don't disagree with you there.

        • The political spectrum is more often shown as two dimensional, rather than one dimensional, by any serious political theorist.

          Although I tend to use 3+1. (Before anyone asks, that's not topologically the same as 4.)

          Anyway, left tends to mean progressive, as opposed to conservative (right). It covers the full range from authoritarian to anarchistic, just as conservative does.

          The midpoint should ideally be a perfect balance between these two modes of thought. So a centrist will pick and choose freely between

          • by adfraggs ( 4718383 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @07:55AM (#60201700)

            But even that's not correct. Left wing prioritises the interests of the collective where as right wing prioritises the interests of the individual. It's only in certain circumstances where left has become strongly associated with progressive and right with conservative. The Nazi's were extremely progressive, and extremely right wing. Conservatives in China or Vietnam are communists and so obviously left wing. And as you point out there are multiple scales at play here. Left vs right, conservative vs progressive, authoritarian vs libertarian. It barely scratches the surface of reality. The ultimate point being that these labels are often lacking in true substance. They're academic and really only have a place in a classroom or forum. Moreover they don't apply to people. No one person is purely "left". It's absurd. People have thousands of different, often quite conflicting ideas bouncing around inside their heads. We change our minds constantly and our actions very often don't match our inner beliefs. We're a bundle of confused and sometimes very random thoughts. Pinning that down to even a broad spectrum of political ideology is hopelessly inadequate. It's just easier. Easier to argue with and more importantly easier to dismiss. If someone can think of themselves "conservative" and someone they disagree with as "liberal" then they can just stop talking. No need to bother trying to figure out our differences when we can just write each other off with cheap labels.

      • And suddenly the left somehow doesn't understand parody. Amazing.

        No. You (pretend you?) don't understand parody.

        Parody: A video which says "CMN" on a rainbow background, shows Don Lemon as an actual lemon and then does something like this. Except a parody wouldn't use a real CNN report in this way since that would disturb the joke. The report would probably show barney the dinosaur eating children. Probably linked to some actual videos of CNN reports which do something similar.

        Lie: A video which uses the normal CNN logo and an actual actual news report but edits them s

      • by Mostly a lurker ( 634878 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @01:41AM (#60200940)

        And suddenly the left somehow doesn't understand parody. Amazing.

        It is amazing how much "parody" you can find on conservative social media sites these days You can continue to find it copied (without comment except how terrible the actions are) for months or years afterwards

        • That's because the right wing has redefined parody to mean, "acting like I'm joking when I'm really serious," which is the polar opposite of, "acting serious when I'm really joking."

      • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @01:53AM (#60200968)

        And suddenly the left somehow doesn't understand parody. Amazing.

        Interesting. GP postulates a thought experiment about the labelling of a news organisation. You straight away turn this into a left vs right political issue. Tell me, did you take the conversation in this direction because you are being paid to, or because are you committed to a political party like some kind of crazed devotee to a cult?

        America's 2 party system is truly bizarre, not the parties themselves, but the public supporting them.

        • Interesting. GP postulates a thought experiment about the labelling of a news organisation.

          It wasn't a thought experiment; he implied (so bluntly that he may as well have stated it) that CNN is so truthful that the only way Trump can show them to be lying is by making up something they never said.

          You straight away turn this into a left vs right political issue.

          I didn't turn it into a left/right issue; the tweet was political from the start, and only became more so when twitter decided they needed to slap a "manipulated video" label on obvious parody.

          Tell me, did you take the conversation in this direction because you are being paid to, or because are you committed to a political party like some kind of crazed devotee to a cult?

          That's some strong projection there.

          America's 2 party system is truly bizarre, not the parties themselves, but the public supporting them.

          The important thing here is that you get to feel superior because yo

          • by jd ( 1658 ) <(moc.oohay) (ta) (kapimi)> on Friday June 19, 2020 @05:44AM (#60201328) Homepage Journal

            It's a manipulated video.

            Accurate labels are useful.

            And, no, it's not parody.

            Here, I'll help.

            Parody: an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.

            Satire: the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

        • It's fu$%ing batshit insane is what it is.

    • News mostly stopped being news when it went to the 24 hour news cycle years ago... Now it's just clickbait headlines to sell ads, really more entertainment than news since news is boring.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      It's a meme. It's not meant to be an actual CNN headline...but to interpret it that way allows Twitter to censor, so of course they're going to take that angle. It's satire, an exaggeration for effect, and a good one too. Plus there's the fact that CNN got caught lying so many times that it's a meme in itself now. Here they are getting caught red-handed planting debate questions. [imgur.com] CNN cropped out the ISIS finger salute and Jihad scarf from the Fort Lauderdale attacker's picture. [i.redd.it] Sheriff asks media not t

      • by Sique ( 173459 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @01:26AM (#60200906) Homepage
        Twitter didn't censor anything. It rightfully stated that this is manipulated media, as this is no original CNN footage. No censorship involved.
        • by narcc ( 412956 )

          In their world, free speech becomes censorship when it's used to call them out on their lies.

          They call actual censorship "kicking ass" as they high-five their fellow cosplayers.

        • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

          Well no, it is crated media. Clearly the intent was satire of CNN news reporting, the original was out there, no attempt to hide it, it inherently is a part of the creative work, a satirical expression of the way CNN reports the news. Calling it manipulated media is a huge lie, because it's intent was satirical and not factual. For it to become manipulated media, some one else has to edit the creative satirical media and make it look like something it was not. It clearly labels with the name of the creator

        • by JBMcB ( 73720 )

          That's weird. The Onion's twitter feed is full of manipulated media, and I don't see a single tag on them.

          • by Sique ( 173459 )
            That's because in The Onion, it's their own content, not something someone else has posted using The Onion's platform.
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Great example of the anti-CNN conspiracy theory.

        Your "planted debate questions" is just an email, presumably confirming the audience member's question and the exact phrasing because every debate pre-screens questions that way.

        Your cropped ISIS fighter is probably not even cropped by CNN, that's just how images look on Twitter until you click on them to expand the full view.

        Your vidme link is long dead. Maybe time to update your ancient copy/paste files.

        I'm not a fan of CNN, I can't even watch it in this cou

      • Quote: "It's a meme".

        NO. It's NOT a meme. Why you "trumpists" just keep saying that ALL that spread out his mouth is "a meme" instead of facing the TRUTH?

        He is NOT a President FOR ALL. He only cares about HIMSELF and his racists friends. And HE WILL DO ANYTHING to DESTROY whoever contradicts him.

        FULL STOP.

    • Re:Faking fake news? (Score:5, Informative)

      by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @01:44AM (#60200950)

      If you have to make your argument that CNN is fake with fake evidence, that is an implicit admission that the real problem is CNN is too truthful for your tastes.

      With Trump and, to some extent, his Administration it's not actually about real/fake, truth/lie or fact/fiction it's about whether he personally likes what's being reported and if it makes him look good. He'll go after anyone/body that displeases him -- something even Fox News is learning. He would make a really good third-world dictator.

    • by fred911 ( 83970 )

      No, it just proves that one doesn't necessarily have to be a good orator or communicator to get a degree from an ivy league college in the US. Hopefully it demonstrates how one with sufficient resources that lacks sufficient ability to communicate [possibly other abilities] can graduate from there..
              And I'm point at you Penn. WTF

  • https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]

    If they thought [they] could get away with it, the social tech giants would just make their policy the same as the crazy knitting forum:

    https://www.ravelry.com/conten... [ravelry.com] [ravelry.com]

    New Policy: Do Not Post In Support of Trump or his Administration

    The goal is simply to get as close to that policy as possible through ever broader and vaguer (and selectively-enforced) TOS language and obstructionism like this. It'll get much worse the closer we get to the election (like it already has).

    At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if we have mandatory social media "outages" right before election day . . . just for you peasants, of course, not media outlets or "aproved" users.

    • Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe the problem is you, and your support of a 6 times bankrupt, serial sexual harasser and potential child rapist who has repeatedly violently dog whistled and sympathized with literal Neo-Nazis? And not, in fact, the multi-billion dollar corporation that would be happy to just make money publishing the president's musing without incident they way they did for 8 years under the previous administration?

      Nope, It's always Orange Man Bad this and "TDS" that. If you d
    • So your problem is that social media companies do not support the single most destructive lunatic ever to disgrace the office of POTUS?

      just for you peasants, of course, not media outlets or "aproved" users.

      Interesting comment. Somehow implying that social media tries to control a narrative instead of say a Whitehouse who bans certain members of the press critical to Dear Leader, and actively supports "news" like ONN who only just stop short of fellating Dear Leader in the middle of a press conference.

    • by N1AK ( 864906 )
      You've got a guy who sees tin-pot dictators as people to emulate who is stacking VoA with stooges, and actively encourages voter suppression, but sure it's social media companies that we should be concerned about; I thought the reality distortion field that Jobs managed was impressive...
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      You are truly fucked if a knitting forum is the free speech soapbox you need to keep your democracy functioning.

      Fortunately it's just a random internet forum where the owner gets to make whatever rules they like, and is unlikely to play any significant role in the coming election except as a copy/paste spamming point for freeze peach warriors.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @07:05AM (#60201538)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Fake fake media labeled as fake. Is that right? More correctly, Twitter believes that fake fake media will be perceived as real fake media so they labeled the fake fake media as fake even though it's fake fake media--unless it's real fake media in which case Twitter was correct to label the real fake media fake, because real fake media is really, really fake.

    In related news, Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

  • by PrimaryConsult ( 1546585 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @01:17AM (#60200890)

    The guy who created it, @carpedonktum (whose twitter handle is obviously placed in the corner of the meme), specifically stated he (1) used the wrong font [twitter.com] and (2) misspelled toddler [twitter.com] because idiots would think it was real.

    And yet there were still idiots... and those idiots were not the Trump supporters.

  • It is indeed manipulated media, so in fact the labeling seems totally fine... although inessential since every single person on the planet has seen the original video and knows what the joke is.

    Now the problem to my mind is, where are the labels on other media similarly altered for humorous effect... I mean if Twitter is inly labeling Trump content, that seems pretty problematic.

    • by I'mjusthere ( 6916492 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @05:55AM (#60201342)
      What is wrong with every one here?!

      Our President should not be retweeting a video like that - I do not give a fuck what the intent of it was. What he does is totally unPresidential and is yet more evidence that he wants to divide this country even more.

      And while the easily manipulated electorate is distracted by this horseshit, Trump has been rolling back regulations that keep our air and water clean, regulations that keep financial institutions from screwing us over again, and other regulations to prevent another economic meltdown - and everything the corporations and the very wealthy wants to our detriment. Because reducing regulations helps fatten the bottom lines of big business who donate a LOT of money to the Republicans and Trump.

  • Remember when... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Chris Katko ( 2923353 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @02:48AM (#60201082)

    Remember when CNN et al cut the footage of Trump's visit to Japan to make him seem like a baffoon? The video cuts all the sections where he feeds the fish, and then only shows the Japanese PM gentlely feeding the fish, then a cut to Trump dumping the box in (it was only the remains of the box, following exactly what the PM did).

    So clearly, Facebook, Twitter, et al, are going to ban that video for being directly manipulated. right? ...RIGHT?

    And clearly CNN et al apologized for directly editing footage to smear a president. Right? ...RIIGHT?

    Hate Trump's policies all you want. But nobody can even remotely, objectively, suggest that the media has been playing fair in its portrayal of the current president. How many body-shaming cycles of "small hands, he wears a wig, he paints his face"? Because everyone who is moderate can hear the screaming hypocrisy even with noise cancelling headphones and earplugs jammed into our heads.

    Remember when they openly debated whether his child had AUTISM? That kid had to go to school after the entire nation (and world) publicly debated whether he was retarded. Imagine the kind of bullying that kid got. A child whose only crime was being born to someone the world hates.

    • by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @04:05AM (#60201200) Journal

      But nobody can even remotely, objectively, suggest that the media has been playing fair in its portrayal of the current president.

      Absolutely, and the same manipulation is evident in the media here in Europe. And it scares the hell out of me. Not because I like Trump (I don't), but because they could start doing the same to political candidates I might actually want to see elected. My views and those of most of our media do not align, and that's putting it mildly. Combine that with growing censorship and deplatforming on social media, and it will be increasingly hard to get alternative views and opinions out to a wide audience.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Questioning his dollar store tan is not body shaming. Either POTUS is very very ill or for some bizarre reason he chooses to apply liquid tanning agent very poorly by himself rather than simply paying someone to do a good job of it. It speaks to his fragile mental state aside from anything else.

      The small hands thing is body shaming, I'll give you that. Vanity Fair described him as a "short-fingered vulgarian" 30 years ago and we should move past it now.

    • Interesting that you lump "The Media" into one word. Especially given the number of news agencies going out of their way to almost fellate the man publicly. You say the media and then come up with a couple of anecdotes from CNN. Hell Hannity would likely openly declare his live for the president were it not for his viewership bias towards homophobia.

      I'm sure CNN doesn't give two shits about how fair to treat a POTUS who has on several occasions excluded them from a press conference.

    • by MobyDisk ( 75490 )

      While I agree with you - the media has always done this - but hang on a sec:

      How many body-shaming cycles of "small hands, he wears a wig, he paints his face"?

      In my experience, zero. The only place I have ever heard the "orange man" thing is here on Slashdot, and always when someone is accusing someone else of having used it. It seems like a strawman to me. People accuse the media of calling Trump names, even if they never do it. I've never read a news story on CNN, The Guardian, The Hill, Fox, NPR, The New York Times, or the Wall Stree Journal, CNBC, or Bloomberg refer to any of thes

    • How many body-shaming cycles of "small hands, he wears a wig, he paints his face"?

      Umm, none of that is about body shaming, at all. If Trump were to shake them off with a little self-deprecation, no one would bother with those oddities. It's the fact that he's so obviously self-centered and thin-skinned that he gets upset and aggressively denies the obvious, that he's willing to blatantly lie about such trivialities, that is the point. Those are some pretty deep personality flaws, and they seriously call into question whether it's safe to put such power in the hands of someone like that.

  • by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Friday June 19, 2020 @04:46AM (#60201248)

    If my memory serves me, various despots throughout history have used what we would call fake news to serve their purpose. Stalin's rule was rife with such manipulations such that he literally removed people from photos [history.com] or had people covered up by various, and obvious, means in movies.

    Putin of course has taken this to a whole new level with today's digital technology. He has entire organizations devoted to pushing out fake news. In fact, early in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a story went around about a young girl who had been killed by Ukrainian shelling. It was all over Russian tv. After much searching for the story, journalists came to the conclusion the story was a lie. In fact, a BBC news team tracked down the original Russian news crew who reported on the supposed event and confronted them. In this video [youtube.com], the Russian crew literally says they were told to produce to the story.

    That we have a so-called president adopting such tactics speaks volumes not only to his unsuitability for the office (so much for the Electoral College), it also shows how gullibly deluded his followers are. More than likely those uneducateds lapped up this video, some most likely even thought it was real and nodded their heads. If you think I'm kidding, try this on for size [imgur.com].

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