A meme tweeted by President Donald Trump was removed from the platform for copyright infringement, CNBC reports.
The meme, featuring excerpts from the Feb. 5 State of the Union set to R.E.M.’s hit “Everybody Hurts,” drew the ire of bassist and founding member Mike Mills, who tweeted “Measures have been taken to stop it.” He also urged Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to “get on this.”
The assholes @CarpeDonktum created the meme. #PresidentAsshole retweeted it. Measures have been taken to stop it. @jack you need to get on this.
— Sweet Daddy Cool 🦃🍁🍂✌️🇺🇦 🐕🇨🇦 (@m_millsey) February 15, 2019
According to CNBC, Trump retweeted the approximately two-minute-long video on Friday; by Saturday morning, it was gone.
“This video has been removed in response to a report from the copyright holder,” the tweet said instead.
CNBC reported that an attorney from Universal Music Publishing Group contacted Twitter to have the video removed.
After the incident, many on the right are calling the move “censorship.”
Twitter user @CarpeDonktum, to whom the video was credited, responded to the incident on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/CarpeDonktum/status/1096531319285264384
Conservative pundit Ali Alexander urged Trump, his campaign manager Brad Parscale, and Trump social media manager Dan Scavino to retweet the video, adding “Fight for the internet,” along with an angry emoji face.
https://twitter.com/ali/status/1096818210991685633
Pundit Jack Posobiec tweeted the video again, saying, “Twitter just censored this video from President Trump’s account. Be a shame if we made it viral again.” He also tweeted, “Keep an eye on the President’s account The new video is on its way More tears incoming…”
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1096851471830786048
Surely enough, on Saturday afternoon, the president tweeted the video again, still featuring the disgruntled faced of politicians like Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)— but this time, with the backing of Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 16, 2019
H/T CNBC
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