Twitter says it inadvertently limited engagements on tweets reported by Trump

Twitter Inc said on Saturday it had “inadvertently” limited engagements for a brief period of US President Donald Trump’s tweets with “contested” tags, but then called off its action.

Some users of the social media platform had noticed earlier on Saturday that the ability to like, re-tweet or reply to Trump’s tweets with a disputed tag was not working.

“We have inadvertently taken steps to limit engagement on the tagged Tweet you referred to. This action has been rescinded,” a Twitter spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement.

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

The development was previously reported by The Verge and The Hill.

Twitter recently added several warnings and tags to tweets from the President’s @realDonaldTrump account, many of which made unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in the US election.

Trump also posted such tweets on Saturday, including one in which he falsely claimed to have won the election in a “landslide” of “legal votes.” Twitter flagged them with a tag saying, “This allegation of electoral fraud is disputed.”

The social media platform first hid one of its tweets behind a “public interest” tag in May when the president violated the company’s policy against glorifying violence.

Trump will be subject to the same Twitter rules as any other user when President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan.20, the social media company said last month.

Twitter places “public interest” notices on certain tweets that violate “world leaders” rules that would otherwise be deleted.

Rather, such tweets from political candidates and elected officials or government officials are obscured by a warning and Twitter is taking action to narrow their reach. This treatment does not apply to former office holders.