Twitter Seizes On Copyright Claim To Ban Popular Pro-Trump Account
A conservative social media user whose memes have been praised and reposted by President Donald Trump has been kicked off Twitter for copyright violations.
Logan Cook, a Kansas man who posts under the name Carpe Donktum, was permanently banned from the platform on Tuesday night, days after he posted a video criticizing CNN that used doctored footage from the news channel.
The clip, which Trump retweeted last week, used footage from a CNN story from last year about the friendship of two toddlers, one black and one white. Cook doctored the clip, set it to ominous music, and inserted a fake CNN caption reading “Terrified todler runs from racist baby,” then a clip from the original video before showing the message “America is not the problem. Fake news is the problem.”
Twitter later placed a “manipulated media” warning label on the clip.
Cook, who also posts his work to other platforms and websites, did not respond to messages seeking comment on Wednesday.
In a statement posted online, however, he denied violating Twitter’s copyright rules and said he is being censored.
Cook’s account has been temporarily suspended multiple times in the past for violations of Twitter’s copyright rules.
He was also suspended for eight days last year for posting a video depicting Trump as a cowboy attacking CNN journalist Jim Acosta.
Twitter rules prohibit Cook from creating a new account to replace the old one, which had more than 270,000 followers at the time of the suspension.
Trump often retweeted Cook, who had emerged as a prominent creator of memes that condemn journalists and those who have criticized the president.
In March, Twitter placed the “manipulated media” warning on a video of Joe Biden shared by Trump.
Last month, Trump fired back at the company after it added fact-check warnings to two of his tweets on mail-in voting. The president vowed to add new regulations to rein in social media companies.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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