Twitter has labelled a “racist baby” video US President Donald Trump posted to mock CNN as “manipulated media”.
The president tweeted a doctored video of two young children with a fake CNN headline on Thursday. The video claims, “America is not the problem. Fake news is.”
But Twitter tagged the tweet “manipulated media” for portraying an edited version of a clip that went viral on social media in 2019.
In the original video, a black toddler and a white toddler were filmed running towards each other before hugging themselves. It was published with the headline “These two toddlers are showing us what real-life besties look like” on CNN’s website last year.
The version tweeted by Trump starts with footage of one part of a viral video that shows a black child run from a white child. The fake CNN graphic reads, “Terrified todler runs from racist baby.”
The tweeted video then goes on to show the original clip and concludes: “America is not the problem. Fake news is”.
The “manipulated media” label linked to a page outlining Twitter’s policies on such content.
“You may not deceptively promote synthetic or manipulated media that are likely to cause harm,” the policy statement reads.
“In addition, we may label Tweets containing synthetic and manipulated media to help people understand their authenticity and to provide additional context.”
A spokesperson for CNN responded to Trump’s tweet Thursday night, “CNN did cover this story – but exactly as it happened. Just as CNN has reported your positions on race (and your poll numbers). We’ll continue working with facts and invite you to do the same, rather than tweeting fake videos that exploit innocent children. Be better.”
