‘Racist baby’ video posted by Trump on Twitter flagged as ‘manipulated’
Twitter once again flagged a tweet from President Donald Trump after he posted a doctored video that involves a “racist baby” and condemnation of “fake news.”
[UPDATE 9/18/2020: The parents of the toddlers in the video have sued Trump, accusing him and the creator of the video of using the footage without their consent, according to the lawsuit.]
The video shows a Black toddler being chased by a white child, made to look like the footage was produced by CNN, with a banner that reads, “Terrified todler [sic] runs from racist baby.” The video text then says: “Racist baby probably a Trump voter.”
The video changes to show the original viral video of the two toddlers running to each other and hugging.
“America is not the problem,” the caption reads, “Fake news is.”
Twitter labeled the tweet as “manipulated media.” The platform says it labels tweets that “have been deceptively altered or fabricated.”
Twitter previously flagged another one of Trump’s tweets for violating its policy on “glorying violence” last month, The Los Angeles Times reported. Trump tweeted about the protests against racial injustice, writing, “any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
Last month, Trump signed an executive order to try to limit the protections for content posted on social media, The Guardian reported.
CNN first reported on the viral video in September 2019. It was posted on Facebook by one of the toddler’s dads and features then 26-month-old Maxwell and 27-month-old Finnegan, “who have been friends for at least a year,” according to CNN.
The video resurfaced during the protests over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in Minneapolis police custody on May 25 after a now-arrested police officer kneeled on his neck for more than 8 minutes.
As protests continue across the nation to advocate for racial justice, Michael Cisneros, Maxwell’s dad, told Today that he views the video of his toddler son in a different light.
“I didn’t see it at the time, but I see it now. It was a beacon of hope,” he told Today. “It shows love and what the future could be like if children were raised in a different way ... It’s going to be kind of iconic. I’ve gotten messages from people all around the world.”
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 8:15 AM with the headline "‘Racist baby’ video posted by Trump on Twitter flagged as ‘manipulated’."