San Francisco: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Saturday defended the decision to disable a Donald Trump campaign video over copyright violations, telling the US President that the move is not illegal.
Trump tweeted after the video, posted from @TeamTrump and @TrumpWarRoom accounts which was a four-minute tribute to African American George Floyd, was disabled on the micro-blogging platform.
“Twitter Pulls Trump Campaign Video of President Showing Empathy For Peaceful Protesters. They are fighting hard for the Radical Left Democrats. A one sided battle. Illegal. Section 230!” tweeted Trump.
Dorsey replied on Trump’s tweet: “Not true and not illegal. This was pulled because we got a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) complaint from copyright holder”.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a 1998 US copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organisation. It criminalises production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works.
Earlier, Twitter and Facebook removed the Trump campaign video over copyright violations that slammed “radical leftwing groups” for the protests across the US. While Twitter disabled the video, Facebook and Instagram removed posts with the video on Trump campaign accounts, reports Vox.
“As per our copyright policy, we respond to valid copyright complaints sent to us by a copyright owner or their authorized representatives,” a Twitter spokesperson said in an earlier statement. The Trump campaign hit back, accusing Twitter and its CEO Jack Dorsey of “censoring” Trump’s “uplifting and unifying message.”
A Facebook spokesperson said that they “received a copyright complaint from the creator under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and have removed the post”.
The Trump campaign later tweeted: “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner”.
In an earlier escalation, Twitter introduced fact checks that showed up on Trump’s tweets. Trump later signed an executive order threatening to slash protections for social media companies.
Section 230 is a US law that shields social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook from liability for content their users post.
After Trump threatened the micro-blogging platform, Dorsey defended the fact checking action against him.
“Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make,” tweeted Dorsey.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Saturday said the company has started a workstream for building products to “advance racial justice”.