Hours after censoring Trump, Twitter goes after his favorite meme-maker

Mere hours after Twitter censored another post by President Donald Trump, it went after his favorite meme-maker, suspending Carpe Donktum over ‘copyright violations’ likely brought on by his recent mockery of CNN.

Carpe Donktum’s “suspension” was quickly noticed on Tuesday evening, prompting concerns among conservative journalists that the social media platform was moving aggressively to silence the president and his supporters alike. 

Earlier in the day, Twitter had hidden one of Trump’s posts, saying that anyone seeking to destroy monuments outside the White House would be met with “serious force” amounted to violating their rules against abusive behavior, specifically “threat of harm against an identifiable group.”

OAN journalist Jack Posobiec quickly found the reasoning behind Carpe Donktum’s suspension: too many “copyright infringement” notifications. 

He also provided a link to the memesmith’s Periscope, in which Carpe explained that Twitter refuses to say how many copyright strikes are too many, and that he has no way of appealing the decision. His only recourse now is for public pressure to change Twitter’s mind.

Despite a campaign to #FreeCarpe, however, a Twitter spokesman later told Posobiec that the meme-maker has indeed been suspended permanently.

Trump has shared Carpe Donktum’s video memes on more than one occasion, usually resulting in reprisals against their creator by anti-Trump activists and mainstream media outlets he lampooned. The copyright claim that got his account in trouble with Twitter most likely came from CNN, whose coverage of Trump he mocked with a meme video of “racist babies.”

CNN furiously complained to Twitter that the video was “doctored” and “manipulated” to make them look bad, even though it was an obvious parody – thus proving the point both Trump and the memesmith were trying to make.

Twitter had suspended Carpe Donktum once before, in May 2019, over another meme mocking CNN. The “Twitter Fight at No Wall Coral” featured a short clip from a Western with the faces of Trump and CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta superimposed on the characters. After a mass reporting campaign by anti-Trump activists, Twitter declared the video “targeted harassment” and banned the meme-maker for what turned out to be 12 hours. 

The platform has gone fully “woke” since, however, hiding several Trump tweets under “rules violation” notices and flagging others for “fact checking” and “manipulated content,” leading to speculation that the US president may also get suspended or banned at some point before the November election.

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