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TECHNOLOGY Wednesday 27 May 2020
Twitter gives Trump a pass on unfounded 'murder' allegations

By DINO HAZELL and matter in Florida. Did he
BARBARA ORTUTAY get away with murder?
Associated Press Some people think so. Why
President Donald Trump is did he leave Congress so
again pushing the limits of quietly and quickly? Isn't it
Twitter's attempts to deal obvious? What's happen-
with national leaders who ing now? A total nut job!"
spread misinformation and He echoed that "cold
engage in personal abuse, case" allegation in a new
this time with a barrage of tweet on Tuesday,
baseless tweets suggest- Trump also has asked via
ing that a television host he Twitter if NBC would fire
has feuded with commit- the political talk show host
ted murder. Twitter, which based on the "unsolved
has tried to devise penal- mystery" years ago in Flori-
ties for such situations, has da. "Investigate!" he tweet-
so far done nothing about ed in 2017. Scarborough
Trump's tweets. The hus- has urged the president to
band of a woman who stop his baseless attacks.q
died by accident two de-
cades ago in an office of
then-GOP Rep. Joe Scar-
borough is demanding that
Twitter remove the presi- In this Oct. 11, 2017, file photo, MSNBC television anchor Joe Scarborough takes questions from
dent's tweets suggesting an audience at forum at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, on the campus of Harvard
University, in Cambridge, Mass.
Scarborough, now a fierce Associated Press
Trump critic, killed her.
"My request is simple: Please head on her desk at work. icy changes. "We've been bel under its policy against
delete these tweets," Timo- He called her death "the working to expand exist- sharing "false or mislead-
thy J. Klausutis wrote to single most painful thing ing product features and ing information intended
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. that I have ever had to policies so we can more to intimidate or dissuade
The body of Lori Kaye deal with" and said he feels effectively address things people from participat-
Klausutis, 28, was found in a marital obligation to pro- like this going forward, and ing in an election or other
Scarborough's Fort Walton tect her memory amid "a we hope to have those civic process." It has not
Beach, Florida, congressio- constant barrage of false- changes in place shortly," done so. And it's not clear
nal office on July 20, 2001. hoods, half-truths, innuen- Twitter said. if Trump's team deleted the
Trump has repeatedly tried do and conspiracy theories The proposed changes Michigan tweet on its own
to implicate Scarborough, since the day she died." include labeling false or volition or if it was warned
a host of MSNBC's "Morn- Trump's tweets violate Twit- misleading tweets as such, by Twitter that it would take
ing Joe" show, in the death ter's community rules and with fact checks "crowd- action on it if it was not
even though Scarborough terms of service, he said. sourced" from Twitter. It changed. Twitter is in ongo-
was in Washington, not "An ordinary user like me recently started labeling ing contact with the White
Florida, at the time. would be banished," he such tweets when they House. In general, Twitter
It's the latest instance in wrote. At Tuesday's White are about COVID-19 and has taken a hands-off ap-
which the president has House briefing, press sec- is looking to expand more proach to political leaders,
blown past Twitter's half- retary Kayleigh McEnany broadly. contending that publishing
hearted attempts to en- repeatedly refused to say But the company hasn't controversial tweets from
force rules intended to pro- why Trump was pressing said when this tool would politicians helps hold them
mote civility and "healthy" the unfounded allegations be available. Based on accountable and encour-
conversation on its most or whether he would stop history, it's also not clear if ages discussion. Last year,
prominent user. Trump fre- tweeting about them. In- these strictures would ap- it said it would consider
quently amplifies misinfor- stead, she focused on re- ply to Trump and other slapping warning labels on
mation, spreads abuse and marks that Scarborough world leaders. some tweets by world lead-
uses his pulpit to attack made about the case that Over the weekend, the ers, noting that such indi-
private citizens and public she said were inappropri- president also sent out viduals rules "aren't entirely"
figures alike, but has never ate and flippant. tweets calling into ques- above the rules.
faced Twitter sanctions on Dorsey did not reply direct- tion the legality of mail-in- Nearly a year after an-
his account. ly to Klausutis' letter and ballots. The storm of tweets nouncing it, Twitter has yet
Klausutis wrote in his letter has not taken any action followed the president's to use such labels.
that he has struggled to on the president's tweets. Facebook and Twitter posts There is no mystery to the
move on with his life due to In a statement, Twitter said last week that wrongly death of Lori Klausutis.
the ongoing "bile and misin- it was "deeply sorry about claimed Michigan's secre- Medical officials ruled that
formation" spread about his the pain these statements, tary of ptate mailed ballots the aide, who had a heart
wife on the platform, most and the attention they are to 7.7 million registered vot- condition and told friends
recently by Trump. His wife drawing, are causing the ers. Trump later deleted the hours earlier that she wasn't
continues to be the sub- family." tweet and posted an ed- feeling well, had fainted
ject of conspiracy theories But the company didn't say ited version that still threat- and hit her head. Foul play
20 years after her death. it would do anything about ened to hold up federal was not suspected.
Klausutis said in the letter, Trump's tweets and didn't funds. Trump, however tweeted
sent last week, that his wife even mention them direct- These are the sorts of tweets this month: "When will they
had an undiagnosed heart ly, although it did reference that Twitter, if it wanted to, open a Cold Case on the
condition, fell and hit her vague plans for future pol- could remove or at least la- Psycho Joe Scarborough