Twitter pulls ‘look at this photograph’ meme after Trump supporters snap it up

3 Oct, 2019 14:00 / Updated 5 years ago

Twitter has yanked a clip featuring a photo of Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and a Ukrainian gas exec set to a Nickelback song after the meme was tweeted by US President Donald Trump and went viral.

The platform cited copyright in its decision to remove the video, which opens with Biden denying he had ever spoken to Hunter about his “overseas business dealings,” then segues through just a few seconds of the Nickelback video before zeroing in on a framed photo of the two Bidens with a “Ukrainian gas exec” and unidentified fourth man. Hearts appear drawn around their faces.

Several of Trump’s supporters who’d shared the meme pointed out that it was technically “fair use” to repurpose copyrighted material for purposes of media commentary. And Twitter’s decision not to act until the president’s followers started sharing it wildly suggested Warner Bros. - which owns the copyright to Nickelback’s “Look at this Photograph” - may have been more concerned about being associated with Trump than being pressed into service as meme fodder.

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The clip was reposted after removal by Donald Trump Jr. with the caption “Not sure why Twitter wouldn’t want you to ‘Look at this Photograph’.”

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