Democrats are calling for the censorship of an edited video which highlights House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s tearing of President’s Trump State of The Union speech.
The video, produced by Turning Point USA and retweeted by President Trump on Thursday, February 6, shows the president celebrating numerous American success stories, with each moment followed immediately by footage of Pelosi ripping the pages.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2020
The viral video, watched over 11 million times on Twitter alone, prompted Trump haters to call on Twitter and Facebook to ban it off their platforms.
“The American people know that the President has no qualms about lying to them,” said Pelosi’s Chief of Staff Drew Hammill, “but it is a shame to see Twitter and Facebook, sources of news for millions, do the same.”
The American people know that the President has no qualms about lying to them – but it is a shame to see Twitter and Facebook, sources of news for millions, do the same. https://t.co/OatHIOamsD
— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) February 7, 2020
Hammill followed up by calling it a “fake video… deliberately designed to mislead and lie to the American people…”
The latest fake video of Speaker Pelosi is deliberately designed to mislead and lie to the American people, and every day that these platforms refuse to take it down is another reminder that they care more about their shareholders’ interests than the public’s interests.
— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) February 7, 2020
Interestingly, Hammill’s protest caught the attention of Facebook’s Policy Communications Manager Andy Stone, who questioned if Hammill was implying the events in the video had not occurred.
Sorry, are you suggesting the President didn't make those remarks and the Speaker didn't rip the speech?
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) February 7, 2020
Hammill responded that the video was “deceptively altered,” and demanded the Facebook employee take the video down.
what planet are you living on? this is deceptively altered. take it down.
— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) February 7, 2020
Stone next informed the Pelosi staffer that the video did not violate Facebook policy.
The reason I was making the point about the fact that the things featured in this video actually happened is because that's a key element of our policy on content like this. https://t.co/CAtmBPczlG
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) February 7, 2020
Speaking to Town Hall, Turning Point USA’s Benny Johnson said if the Pelosi staffer had his way, the video’s censorship would set a dangerous precedent.
“If totalitarian Nancy Pelosi gets her way – every single video from every media outlet will be labeled as “edited” and “doctored.” What a dystopian hellscape,” Benny Johnson, Chief Creative Officer of Turning Point USA, told Townhall. “It will be the death of media as we know it. This is congressional cancel culture and we should all fight against it.”
At least in this instance, Facebook did the right thing by refusing to censor the video.
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