Twitter vows to remove messages rooting for President Trump to die after thousands of sick tweets were posted to the site after he tested positive for COVID-19
- President Trump tested positive to COVID-19 on Friday; thousands of Twitter users subsequently shared sick messages hoping for the worst outcome
- The company hit back, releasing a messaging saying that tweets were a violation of their rules and policies regarding abusive behavior
- They vowed to remove or hide such tweets, but admitted that they will not be able to police each and every message
- As of Saturday morning, there are dozens of tweets still visible on the social media site written by those rooting for Trump to die
Twitter is pledging to remove tweets rooting for President Trump’s death in the wake of his COVID-19 diagnosis.
The social media site’s communications department made the vow Friday evening, just hours after the Commander-in-chief was airlifted to hospital amid reports that he was having trouble breathing.
‘Tweets that wish or hope for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against *anyone* are not allowed and will need to be removed. This does not automatically mean suspension,’ an official statement from the company read.
Twitter is pledging to remove tweets rooting for President Trump’s death in the wake of his COVID-19 diagnosis. The President is pictured on Thursday – one day before he tested positive to the contagious virus
Twitter’s communications department made the vow Friday evening, following a wave of sick tweets posted by users
Trump confirmed he had tested positive to the virus earlier in the day, prompting thousands of Twitter users to share sick messages in which they delighted at the news and wished for the worst possible outcome.
Such posting are a violation of Twitter’s rules and policies regarding abusive behavior, which were last updated in April.
According to those guidelines, the company does ‘not tolerate content that wishes, hopes or expresses a desire for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against an individual or group of people.’
‘This includes, but is not limited to: Hoping that someone dies as a result of a serious disease e.g., “I hope you get cancer and die.”‘
The news came as a shock to Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who replied to Twitter’s statement with a GIF in which a woman stated ‘Excuse Me?’
Like Trump, Omar is a divisive political figure who frequently receives death threats and messages hoping for her death via Twitter.
The news came as a shock to Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who replied to Twitter’s statement with a GIF in which a woman stated ‘Excuse Me?’
Some users appear to be provoking Twitter and poking fun at the company for their failure to keep their promises
Despite pledging to remove such messages, the company has struggled to do so.
In a statement to Motherboard on Friday night, a Twitter official admitted that they ‘won’t take enforcement action on every Tweet.’
‘We’re prioritizing the removal of content when it has a clear call to action that could potentially cause real-world harm,’ they stated.
Indeed, some users appear to be provoking Twitter and poking fun at the company for their failure to keep their promises.
‘Listen, I don’t think Twitter is really enforcing it, so I hope Trump dies,’ one person wrote.
That tweet received more than 1,700 likes and was still up on the site almost 12 hours after it was posted.
‘Watch nothing happen,’ the gleeful user later added.
Earlier on Friday, a number of high profile public figures – including former Hillary Clinton Spokeswoman Zara Rahim – came under fire for their distasteful Twitter posts.
‘It’s been against my moral identity to tweet this for the past four years, but, I hope he dies,’ Rahim wrote.
Trump remains at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland where he is being monitored by doctors ‘out of an abundance of caution’.
