Facebook has acknowledged censoring an iconic image of former President Donald Trump, taken right after he narrowly-survived an assassination attempt. The photo, which quickly went viral, shows Trump with a raised fist and a bloodied face, moments after the incident at a campaign rally.
Meta says the mass censorship of the image was an “error.”
The image in question was taken by an Associated Press photographer during a harrowing scene on July 13 in Butler, PA, where Trump was addressing supporters. During the speech, Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire, mildly injuring Trump and fatally wounding Corey Comperatore, a bystander who was shielding his family.
This stark, emotive image became a symbol of defiance as Trump, despite his injury, stood up and rallied his supporters with a call to “Fight! Fight! Fight!” However, the photo’s journey through social media over the last day was marred by censorship.
An altered version of this photo had surfaced online, showing Secret Service agents supposedly smiling after the event, which led to its initial restriction by Facebook’s third-party fact-checkers, who cited concerns of manipulation.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, later extended this caution to the original, unaltered image, a move they now say they regret.
Dani Lever, communications director for Facebook, stated, “This was an error. This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo showing the Secret Service agents smiling, and in some cases, our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo. This has been fixed and we apologize for the mistake.”
This incident highlights ongoing concerns regarding the oversight of digital speech as algorithmic changes can have major impacts on which messages get shared.
The mass censorship of the images follows a major news outlet’s photo editor criticizing the use of the widely-circulated photo. The editor argued that the dramatic image, which portrays President Trump bloodied but defiant, could inadvertently serve as “free PR” for him, glorifying his image amid a critical incident.
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