Twitter Fact Checks Viral Tweets Misidentifying Officer Involved In George Floyd’s Death

TOPLINE

As the Trump administration prepares to issue an executive order on social media following Twitter’s fact checking of two of the president’s tweets, the company is continuing its fact checking operations, taking action on a viral tweet from actor and rapper Ice Cube falsely claiming that a man wearing a racist hat is the officer involved in the death of George Floyd.

KEY FACTS

Crucial quote

“It’s astounding how many of you are more concerned with a picture that misidentifies a racist, violent, apathetic, murdering, white supremacist, pig, who crushed the neck of a Black man and lynched him in the streets of Minneapolis, than the fact that he executed #GeorgeFloyd,” said Talbert Swan, a bishop and activist who tweeted out the photo to his 149,100 followers.

Key background

George Floyd’s death stoked national outrage and reignited tensions in Minneapolis, where the Washington Post said the police have “long been accused of racism.” Protests on Wednesday night turned chaotic after a group of demonstrators burned down buildings and looted stores in the city. All four officers who were on the scene at the time of Floyd’s death have been fired and the FBI is investigating the incident. 

news peg

Trump threatened to regulate social media companies on Wednesday after Twitter
TWTR
labeled two of his tweets about mail-in voting with a “fact check,” which said the president falsely claimed mail-in ballots would lead to a rigged election and widespread fraud, citing the Washington Post and CNN. Republicans have long claimed that Facebook, based in the liberal stronghold of Silicon Valley, is biased against conservatives, and Twitter’s fact check only intensified that criticism, with Trump tweeting that Twitter was “interfering” in the 2020 election and stifling free speech. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended the company’s actions, saying it would “continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally.”

Tangent

Twitter on Thursday also fact checked a March tweet from a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry that claimed the coronavirus was brought to China by the U.S. military.