Fighting Fake News: Edited Video Of Joe Biden ‘Endorsing’ Trump Labeled As ‘Manipulated’ By Twitter

Twitter will begin fighting back against disinformation on its platform and one of its new tools is a “manipulated media” tag for content that has been altered in order to mislead. The first piece of media to receive this tag is an edited clip of a Joe Biden speech that recently went viral on both sides of the political aisle.

In the clip, released by White House social media director, Dan Scovino, Biden appears to stumble through a speech in Kansas City and accidentally saying that voters should reelect Donald Trump.

Trump himself shared the clip twice, saying “I agree with Joe!” Meanwhile, both Trump supporters and Bernie Sanders supporters jumped on the clip as an example of the former Vice President’s declining mental health. Special Counsel Robert Mueller found that the Trump and Sanders campaigns were both promoted by Russian trolls in 2016 and reports have surfaced that Russian trolls are supporting both campaigns in 2020.

“We can only reelect Donald Trump,” Biden appears to say in the edited clip.

In reality, Biden’s speech had important parts edited out of it to give it a different meaning. Biden was, in fact, talking about the need for a positive campaign, lest Democrats turn on each other and help reelect Trump.

“We can only reelect Donald Trump if in fact we get engaged in this circular firing squad here,” Biden said in the real clip. “It's got to be a positive campaign.”

Under its new policies, Twitter can potentially remove or diminish the visibility of doctored content, in addition to labeling it as “manipulating.” Despite the company’s efforts, many have still criticized it for taking too long to address the clip, which has already been viewed 5 million times on its platform.

Facebook continues to host the video without any indication that its content is misleading. The social network has recently drawn intense criticism for its unwillingness to tackle the spread of political misinformation on its platform.

“Facebook’s malfeasance when it comes to trafficking in blatantly false information is a national crisis in the respect,” Greg Schultz, Biden’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “It is also an unconscionable act of putting profit above not just our country, but every country.”