Linkin Park files complaint for unauthorised use of song in Donald Trump's campaign video; Twitter disables clip

Twitter disabled a campaign-style video that US President Donald Trump retweeted on Saturday, citing a copyright complaint. The video, which included the song ‘In the End’ from the group Linkin Park, disappeared from the president’s Twitter feed late Saturday with the notification: “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.” The Verge writes that the video featured images of Trump and snippets from his inaugural address. [caption id=“attachment_8444891” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] File image of US president Donald Trump. AP[/caption] Twitter removed the video, which Trump had retweeted from White House social media director Dan Scavino, after it received a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice from Machine Shop Entertainment, according to a notice posted on the Lumen Database which collects requests for removal of online materials. The tweet is no longer visible on Scavino’s feed either. Machine Shop is a management company owned by the rock band Linkin Park, according to its LinkedIn page. The band had addressed this issue on Twitter and written that they do not endorse Trump. Here is their post

Linkin Park did not and does not endorse Trump, nor authorize his organization to use any of our music. A cease and desist has been issued.

— LINKIN PARK (@linkinpark) July 19, 2020

“We respond to valid copyright complaints sent to us by a copyright owner or their authorised representatives,” a Twitter representative said in an email statement. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Twitter began challenging Trump’s tweets in May and has repeatedly clashed with him since. The social media company has several times disabled or commented on tweets by the president because of what it said were copyright complaints or violations of a policy against threatening violence. Twitter removed an image the president tweeted on 20 June, which included a picture of Trump, because of a complaint from The New York Times, whose photographer had shot the image. The company also put a tweet from the president behind a warning label in late May, saying that he had violated its rules against “glorifying violence” when he advocated that Minneapolis authorities be tough in responding to protests over the death of George Floyd. (With inputs from Reuters)