Twitter permanently suspended the account of Carpe Donktum, a meme creator who is famous for making videos in support of President Donald Trump.
The social media network confirmed the ban late Tuesday in a statement to multiple media outlets, citing “repeated violations” of copyright.
“We respond to valid copyright complaints sent to us by a copyright owner or their authorized representatives,” the statement read. “The account was permanently suspended for repeated violations of this policy.”
“I received a DMCA takedown order this morning for that video, and a few hours later a suspension letter,” he wrote. “Twitter has not provided me with any avenue to get my account back, so I assume they intend this to be final and permanent.”
He maintains that he has always complied with DMCA takedown rules and has never uploaded content that has been removed.
“I have abided by the community guidelines, and followed the rules. It doesn’t matter. I have been banned for being effective and they won’t even look me in the eye as they do it,” he added.
Trump shared the video edited by Carpe Donktum on June 18 on Twitter. The Twitter post had more than 14 million views by early June 19.
The beginning of the video shows a black toddler running in the same direction as a white toddler, and featured a mock chyron that read “Breaking News: Terrified Toddler Runs From Racist Baby.” The chyron was made to look as though it was broadcast on CNN, and the video played to dramatic, alarming music.
The video ends with the message: “America is not the problem. Fake news is. If you see something, say something. Only you can prevent fake news dumpster fires.”
The hashtag #parler began trending on Twitter across the United States within hours after Carpe Donktum’s account was suspended, with multiple Twitter users encouraging a switch to Parler, a social network regarded as an alternative to Twitter that was launched in August 2018.
“Twitter claiming he [Carpe Donktum] violated ‘copyright infringement’ on videos that are public domain or clearly parodies covered by fair use is beyond fraudulent,” Trump Jr. added.
