Twitter Removes Video That Trump Tweeted After Copyright Complaint

Maybe he’s not banned from Twitter like many of those on the left have called for, but one of the president’s tweets he made yesterday has now been altered by Twitter for copyright violations.

Yesterday afternoon President Trump tweeted out a video created by a self described ‘Sarcastic Memesmith’ who had recently won a meme contest on Alex Jones’ Infowars. The video, which showed Democrats frowning and grimacing at the president’s State of the Union Address, used the band, R.E.M’s song, ‘Everybody Hurts,’ as its background music.

Late yesterday it was reported that Mike Mills, the bassist for R.E.M. had taken steps to get the video removed, and it now appears as if Twitter has officially removed the video clip that the president had pinned to the top of his feed for several hours.

Although the tweet itself is still within Trump’s Twitter stream, the video is not playable, and a grey box is displayed instead.

This was a clear copyright violation on the part of the video’s creator, yet those on the far-right continue to use this Twitter takedown as an example of their so-called ‘left-leaning bias,’ as seen below:

BIG TECH TYRANNY: President Trump Tweets Out CarpeDonktum Video Mocking Democrats — Twitter Takes It Down @CarpeDonktum @RealDonaldTrump https://t.co/Zh5UNgRY3K via @gatewaypundit

— Jim Hoft (@gatewaypundit) February 16, 2019

Dear @realDonaldTrump, it is a matter of national importance that you fight against the DMCA takedown of this video. It is covered under Fair Use, which has been a point of contention for YouTube. For a very long time.

If you litigated this matter, Online America would love you. pic.twitter.com/jeCKy2TCXc

— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) February 16, 2019

You see, when one creates music, and copyrights it, they get to decide how it’s used, not some alt-right group on Twitter or 4chan.