Donald Trump retweets Britain First video appearing to show boy being killed, but Twitter is unlikely to ban him
'Each situation is evaluated on a case by case basis and ultimately decided upon by a cross-functional team'
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Your support makes all the difference.Twitter is yet again facing calls for Donald Trump to be banned from the platform, after he tweeted a video appearing to show a boy being murdered.
The US President this morning retweeted several tweets from Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of far-right group Britain First. One of the updates reads, “VIDEO: Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!”
The accompanying video footage is extremely disturbing. However, the highly controversial update is unlikely to get Mr Trump banned from the platform.
That’s because Twitter considers his updates to be “of public interest” and too “newsworthy” to block.
Earlier this month, the site updated its Help Center to explain why Mr Trump is still allowed to tweet, despite many people considering him to have broken the site’s rules when he appeared to threaten nuclear war with North Korea.
He wrote that North Korea foreign minister Ri Yong-ho “won’t be around much longer” if he continued to echo the thoughts of Kim Jong-un.
“To help ensure people have an opportunity to see every side of an issue, there may be the rare occasion when we allow controversial content or behavior which may otherwise violate our Rules to remain on our service because we believe there is a legitimate public interest in its availability,” Twitter’s Help Center now reads.
"Each situation is evaluated on a case by case basis and ultimately decided upon by a cross-functional team.”
It continues: “If the Tweet does have the potential to impact the lives of large numbers of people, the running of a country, and/or it speaks to an important societal issue then we may allow the content to remain on the service. Likewise, if the impact on the public is minimal we will most likely remove content in violation of our policies.”
The Independent has contacted Twitter for comment on Mr Trump's retweet.
The video certainly portrays “graphic violence”, which Twitter defines as “any form of gory media related to death, serious injury, violence, or surgical procedures”.
However, posting violent footage to the site isn't always enough to warrant a ban.
The site’s rules state: “Twitter allows some forms of graphic violence and/or adult content in Tweets marked as containing sensitive media. However, you may not use such content in your profile or header images. Additionally, Twitter may sometimes require you to remove excessively graphic violence out of respect for the deceased and their families if we receive a request from their family or an authorized representative."
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