WASHINGTON — Twitter on Tuesday put a warning label on a tweet from President Donald Trump in which he warned if protesters tried to set up an “autonomous zone” in Washington DC they would be “met with serious force!”
“We’ve placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our policy against abusive behavior, specifically, the presence of a threat of harm against an identifiable group,” Twitter said.
Twitter users, including Trump’s supporters, will be unable to retweet the offending tweet due to the measure.
The company explained that although the tweet broke its rules it “will remain on the service given its relevance to ongoing public conversation.”
Trump posted the same message on Facebook. CNN has reached out to Facebook for comment.
“There will never be an ‘Autonomous Zone’ in Washington, D.C., as long as I’m your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!,” Trump posted on Twitter and Facebook.
Trump has been critical of the “autonomous zone” in Seattle, an area occupied by protestors for much of this month.
Criticizing Twitter’s decision Tuesday, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted that “citizens have a right to hear directly from their President and decide for themselves what to think about it.”
Twitter announced specific rules for politicians last year that allows them to sometimes violate the platform’s rules without their tweets being removed. The company says there is a “public interest” in people being able to see and debate statements from elected officials.
This is the fourth time Twitter has taken action against Trump’s account in just a few weeks.
In May, Twitter labeled two Trump tweets that made false claims about mail-in ballots in California.
A few days later, Trump tweeted that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” which Twitter labeled as a glorification of violence. Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, were criticized by some of its staff when the company took no action on the same post on its platform.
Last week, Twitter labeled a video Trump tweeted of two toddlers as “manipulated.” It was later removed entirely due to a copyright claim.
The labeling of tweets has enraged the President and his supporters and even prompted Trump to sign an executive order targeting social media companies.
Facebook last week took down a set of Trump campaign ads because, the company said, the ads included a Nazi symbol.