Twitter has announced that it will be introducing new rules from March 5th which will result in “synthetic or manipulated media” being labeled or removed from the platform.
These rules are likely to have a huge impact on memes and result in many popular memes being labeled with a warning or censored by Twitter.
Tweets that are labeled will come with a “Manipulated Media” warning that encourages people to “view info from reputable sources” which essentially fact-check the meme and tell users that it has been “altered” or “doctored.”
If Twitter users try to retweet or like memes with this label, they’ll be shown a warning before they can complete the action.
Memes with this label will be also be suppressed and prevented from being recommended on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/getongab/status/1224834459939241986
Twitter users have slammed these new rules with prolific meme-maker Carpe Donktum saying: “This rule will be used to remove memes that you [Twitter] don’t like.”
https://twitter.com/carpedonktum/status/1224815268351836162
“Twitter literally just outlawed Carpe Donktum style video edits because people got ass mad and cried about it,” said Gator.
https://twitter.com/getongab/status/1224822592667779073
“Yes Twitter will be much better without squints memes,” said prop op.
https://twitter.com/properopinion/status/1224821862355623938
Chaotickeyblade added: “So a meme ban nice on Twitter.”
https://twitter.com/chaotickeyblade/status/1224809446800601088
“No memes allowed,” said free speech software company Gab.
Twitter’s new rules rolled out on the same day that a Google-backed research group unveiled a new tool for detecting “doctored images” and announced that this tool will be given to “more than a dozen news and fact-checking organizations around the world.”
Both announcements come after legacy media outlets have framed several memes shared by President Trump as “doctored” over the last few months.
Attempts by other platforms to regulate memes have proved to be disastrous for users with Instagram’s “fact-checking” program killing memes on the platform.
