Social media giants have established new rules to flag what they consider to be “manipulated media” – deceptively edited pictures or videos. And guess who was the target of one of the first flagged pieces of manipulated media? That’s right, President Trump.
While most people would think of photoshopped images or deep fake videos as being the type of material that social media sites would flag for users to be wary of, the reality is that they’re flagging content posted by conservatives that is far more innocuous. The video in question shows Joe Biden at a campaign rally saying “We can only re-elect Donald Trump.” The video cuts out the rest of his statement, the entirety of which states: “We can only re-elect Donald Trump if in fact we get engaged in this circular firing squad here. It’s got to be a positive campaign.”
What many people would find as a humorous edit of Biden’s speech ended up getting flagged by Twitter as an example of “manipulated media,” when in fact there was no manipulation. Yes, the quote was cut and, seeing it out of context, some credulous person who might not know any better might wonder what is going on. But to call it manipulated is a bit of a stretch.
Compare that video to what the mainstream media and entertainment establishment do. Katie Couric was the subject of a defamation lawsuit after her team spliced in video footage to make it look like Second Amendment advocates couldn’t answer simple questions. That’s deceptive editing and manipulated media. Or take the similarly selective editing from Sacha Baron Cohen to make Second Amendment advocates look like fools.
But those darlings of the Silicon Valley leftists will never get called out for their selective editing and media manipulation, because they’re the ones who the left wants to push their desired narrative. As usual, social media’s new rules will be used as a club against conservative voices and as a shield against leftist establishment voices. All the more reason for conservatives to abandon the leftist echo chambers of establishment social media and found their own platforms to give conservatives a real voice.
This article was originally posted on Red Tea News.
