Facebook removes Trump video over unauthorized use complaint

Facebook on Friday took down a video posted to President Trump’s account that doctored a video of two toddlers after the received a copyright complaint, the second time in as many days the social media giant has removed Trump-related content.

The video shows a white child running toward a Black child, with a fictional CNN headline “terrified toddler runs from racist baby,” and “racist baby probably a Trump voter.” It then shows the children running toward each other and hugging, followed by the text: “Only you can prevent fake news dumpster fires.”

The video was taken down from Facebook after the parents of one of the children filed a copyright complaint to Facebook. Jukin Media, a company that represents creators of videos including the one Trump used, said in a statement Friday that they did not consent to the use.

“Neither the video owner nor Jukin Media gave the President permission to post the video, and after our review, we believe that his unauthorized usage of the content is a clear example of copyright infringement without valid fair use or other defense,” Jukin wrote in a statement.

Statement from Jukin Media Regarding the President’s ‘Manipulated Media’ Tweet pic.twitter.com/8zepXNNhsH

— Jukin Media (@JukinMedia) June 19, 2020

“We received a copyright complaint from the rights holder of this video under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and have removed the post,” a Facebook spokesperson told The Hill. 

In its statement, Jukin Media said that it has asked Twitter to take the video down as well.

Twitter has added a “manipulated media” warning on the video. 

pic.twitter.com/vnRpk0zl5y

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2020

According to CNN, the video reached 4 million views on Facebook before it was taken down. 

Twitter did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Hill. Twitter has taken down content that violated copyright laws posted by the president in the past.

One day earlier, Facebook took down Trump campaign ads against antifa that featured a symbol used by Nazis to designate political prisoners.