Twitter puts ‘manipulated’ tag on edited Biden video retweeted by Trump

A tweet featuring edited footage of former Vice President Joe Biden that incorrectly made it appear as though he was endorsing President Trump’s reelection has been labelled “manipulated media” by Twitter.

A spokesperson for the social platform told The Hill on Sunday that the tweet was “actioned” based on a policy it recently rolled out to prevent users from deceptively sharing “synthetic or manipulated media that are likely to cause harm.” 

The tweet, which the president’s social media manager Dan Scavino posted on Saturday, shows edited footage from a speech Biden delivered in Missouri earlier that day. 

The clip was edited to show Biden saying, “Excuse me. We can only reelect Donald Trump,” right before it ends mid-sentence. 

In a full clip of the moment, Biden says, “Excuse me. We can only reelect Donald Trump if in fact we get engaged in this circular firing squad here. It’s gotta be a positive campaign.” 

The edited video, which was later promoted by Trump and his campaign, racked up millions of views before Twitter labeled the media “manipulated” on Sunday afternoon in a first for the platform.

However, some people on Twitter also noted that when they search for the tweet, the label no longer shows up.

A Twitter spokesperson said that the label is “not currently showing up in Tweet detail, but is visible in the timeline.” They added that the platform is “working on a fix.”

The move by the social media giant follows months of calls from the public and lawmakers to step up its efforts to combat the spread of misinformation on its platform.

The policy also comes months after Facebook implemented a similar policy that bans media that has been “edited or synthesized” in ways that are not “apparent to an average person.”