Twitter has claimed its decision to allow far-right videos shared by Donald Trump didn't breach the site's guidelines - before its co-founder appeared to make a U-turn on the issue.
Donald Trump came under fire on Thursday when he retweeted three anti–Muslim videos from far-right group Britain first.
Two of the videos featured violent footage of someone being pushed off a roof and another person being assaulted. Twitter users claimed that this content breached the sites guidelines and called for the videos to be removed.
An initial statement from Twitter said in some exceptional cases controversial content would be allowed to remain on the site.
It said: “There may be the rare occasion when we allow controversial content or behaviour which may otherwise violate our rules to remain on our service because we believe there is a legitimate public interest in its availability.”
A series of posts from the Twitter Safety account outlined why Mr Trump’s tweets remained on the site.
According to the site’s media policy, in order for a post to breach the guidelines it must contain “gory media related to death, serious injury, violence or surgical procedures”.
It lists examples including the moment someone dies, a gruesome crime scene or bodily harm, torture, dismemberment or mutilation.
On Friday, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey tweeted claiming that the company may have been wrong to leave the videos up.
He said: “We mistakenly pointed to the wrong reason we didn’t take action on the videos from earlier this week. We’re still looking critically at all of our current policies, and appreciate all the feedback. See our safety calendar for our plans and ship dates.”
One user replied to Mr Dorsey’s post asking whether the reason behind the post remaining on the site was an attempt to drive traffic to Twitter.
Mr Dorsey replied: “No it’s not”.
The Prime Minister condemned the Mr Trump’s actions. Mrs May said that the President was wrong to retweet the videos which were originally posted by Britain First’s deputy leader Jayda Fransen.
Mrs May described Britain First as a “hateful organisation.
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Mr Trump responded to Mrs May’s assertions on Twitter, he wrote: “@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!”
Outraged MPs called for Mrs May to cancel the President's upcoming trip to the UK, however the Prime Minister has refused, insisting that the she is still committed to the “special relationship” between the UK and the US.
However, US diplomats announced that the President will no longer be going ahead with his visit.
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