Donald Trump Jr. accuses that he is censored on social networks
Instagram hid a photo that Donald Trump Jr. posted on the platform after independent fact-checkers determined that the information contained in it was "partly false."
The app, which is owned by the social-media giant Facebook, has been working with 45 "third-party fact-checkers" certified by the International Fact-Checking Network since December to identify, review, and flag false information.
According to Instagram, when fact-checkers "identify false information on Instagram, we make it harder to find by filtering it from Explore and Hashtags, and reducing its visibility in Feed and Stories."
"We also help people to decide for themselves what to read, trust, and share by giving them more information on posts with false information warnings," the website said. It added, however, that "original content" from politicians is not sent to fact-checkers to review.
Trump Jr.'s Instagram post was a meme blaming Democratic lawmakers for exacerbating the novel coronavirus outbreak in the US.
It suggested that after President Donald Trump banned some travel from China on January 31, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats had a "meltdown" and suggested the travel ban was part of Trump's war on immigrants.
Lead Stories, the website that fact-checked Trump Jr.'s post, found that Schumer never made any such statement. It also found that the source of the claim — a purported tweet from Schumer circulating in far-right circles in which he criticized the ban as "premature" and a "war on immigrants" — was fabricated.
Vijaya Gadde, the Legal, Policy, Trust & Safety Lead at Twitter, confirmed the finding on the social media platform, writing that a screenshot of the Schumer tweet "appears to be fake."
Lead Stories noted that the tweet in question also does not appear on a ProPublica database that tracks and archives his and other politicians' deleted tweets.
Trump Jr.'s post is still on Instagram but includes a warning saying the photo contains some false information.
Users are given the option to review why the post was blurred out and to view the post.
If a user chooses to learn what prompted the warning, they get the following message:
Trump Jr. and other right-wing figures often rail against social media companies for what they describe as censorship of conservative thought.
In May 2018, the president's eldest son excoriated Instagram and claimed the platform was warning some users searching for posts that included his name "often encourage behavior that can cause harm and even lead to death."
"REALLY?!?!" Trump Jr. wrote to Facebook CEO and Instagram owner Mark Zuckerberg. "Are you fricken kidding me?"
The warning did not appear in searches by some media outlets.
Last July, Trump also assailed Facebook, Google, and Twitter at a White House policy summit for allegedly showing "terrible bias" against conservatives and silencing his supporters.
Tech companies have long denied these charges. In fact, Zuckerberg has drawn some backlash for his coziness with right-wing and far-right figures. Facebook, in particular, is also criticized for not doing enough to crack down on fake news, disinformation, and right-wing propaganda.
Politico reported last year that Zuckerberg held several off-the-record meetings with conservative journalists, commentators, and lawmakers to discuss issues like free speech and talk about potential partnerships.
"I'm under no illusions that he's a conservative but I think he does care about some of our concerns," one person familiar with the gatherings told Politico of Zuckerberg.
