Trump tweet using Linkin Park's song disabled over copyright complaint

Twitter disabled a campaign-style video soundtracked by Linkin Park’s “In the End”, that US President Donald Trump retweeted on July 18, reports Reuters citing a copyright complaint.
July 19, 2020 | 16:06
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trump tweet using linkin parks song disabled over copyright complaint
Twitter disables Trump tweet over copyright complaint

The video, featured a cover of the iconic Linkin Park song 'In the End', disappeared from the president's Twitter feed late Saturday.

The cover made by Fleurie and Jung Youth was featured alongside a montage of the president's inaugural address.

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.

Machine Shop is a management company owned by Linkin Park, according to its LinkedIn page.

As the late Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, who committed suicide in 2017 after battling alcohol and drugs, had branded Trump “a greater threat to the USA than terrorism,” the band’s surviving members were quick to file the takedown notice with Twitter.

Within hours, Twitter obliged the band’s request, pulling the video from Trump’s feed and replacing it with a message that reads, “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”

"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.

trump tweet using linkin parks song disabled over copyright complaint
Full members of the rock band Linkin Park.

While thousands of Linkin Park fans expressed their disapproval of the song being used by Trump to endorse his problematic politics and policies, there is another faction of the Internet, Trump supporters, who are in turn lashing out at the band for taking the video down.

“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,” the surviving members said in a tweet.

Trump's supporters jumped at the opportunity to defend him. "Fine then.. I guess that automatically devalues your music to many, actually majority of the people," tweeted one featuring a middle finger emoji. "You should honestly be happy that anyone is still playing your 'music'." tweeted another.

Many pointed out that instead of forcing the video to be taken down, the band should be "honored" that their music was put to use. "Yea... For 1. You should be honored the President wanted to use that song. 2. That's not quite how that works when the song they used is a COVER version!" Many are saying, "It's just a song," adding, "I thought music was for everyone to enjoy..?" There are also those who point out that the band's lead singer wouldn't have cared one bit. "It was a cover. Get over it, really. Chester Bennington wouldn’t have cared."

While the Trump ad can no longer be seen on Twitter, it was still available on YouTube as of Sunday afternoon.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Linkin Park joins a rapidly growing group of artists who expressed their displeasure at Trump using their music. So far, Neil Young, the Village People, the Rolling Stones, and more have told the president to not use their music.

The Rolling Stones recently even threatened Trump’s campaign with a lawsuit over the continued unauthorized use of the band’s music.

trump tweet using linkin parks song disabled over copyright complaint
One of the first shots in Twitter’s ongoing clash with Donald Trump. Photo: Twitter

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 June 30, 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.

In late June, Twitter censored a tweet by Trump for breaking its rules against “abusive behaviour”. Trump had vowed that any attempt by protesters to set up an "autonomous zone" on the streets of Washington DC would be “met with serious force”.

But Twitter declared his words to be “a threat of harm against an identifiable group” and branded them with a warning label that made it impossible for other users to like, reply to or retweet them./.

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