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Trump video post that earned Twitter warning is removed for breaching copyright

The video received 20 million views on Twitter and 4 million views on Facebook

Justin Vallejo
New York
Saturday 20 June 2020 00:18 BST
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Twitter puts fact-check warning on Trump tweets

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The "racist baby" video shared by Donald Trump that received a "manipulated media" label has been removed from both Twitter and Facebook over a copyright complaint.

The video on the president's Twitter feed now redirects to the message: "This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner."

Twitter's removal of the video late on Friday followed Facebook taking it down earlier in the day after parents of one of the toddlers lodged a copyright claim.

The video, of a CNN report about a racist white toddler chasing a black toddler before the full clip was shown of the two coming together to hug, was a satirical parody of the network's "Fake News" coverage of the Trump administration, the White House said on Friday.

The punch line was that the racist baby was "probably a Trump voter".

"I think the president was making a satirical point that was quite funny if you go and actually watch the video," Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.

"In 2019 CNN misleadingly aired a clip from one viewpoint repeatedly to falsely accuse the Covington boys of being, quote 'students in Maga gear harassing a Native American elder'. That's a harassing video, a misleading video about children, that had really grave consequences for their future."

In statements sent to media, both Twitter and Facebook confirmed the removal of the video over a copyright complaint,

After receiving more than 4 million views on Facebook and going viral on Twitter with 20 million views, a company that represents the owner of the original video submitted a takedown request.

In a statement to CNN Business, Jukin Media said neither the video owner nor Jukin gave Mr Trump permission to post the video.

"After our review, we believe that this unauthorized usage of the content is a clear example of copyright infringement without valid fair use or other defence," the statement said.

The original video starts with the satirical headline "TERRIFIED TODDLER RUNS FROM RACIST BABY" before showing the original clip under the headline "WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED" with the song "Close to You" playing over the images.

CNN responded in a tweet with a link to the original story about the two toddlers "exactly as it happened".

The original video went viral in 2019, with Michael Cisneros, the father of one of the boys, saying at the time "with all the racism and hate going on I just think it's a really beautiful video".

Following the president's tweet of the video on Thursday night, Mr Cisneros took to Facebook to say Mr Trump should not turn this "loving, beautiful video to further his hate agenda".

Erica Russo McKenna, the mother of the other boy, said on Facebook she was "utterly shocked".

"For all you Trump supporters, I hope that his use of their beautiful video in this way disgusts you. It should," she said.

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