Campaign

Bloomberg faces criticism for tweet showing altered debate moment

by Morgan Gstalter - 02/20/20 12:42 PM ET

Mike Bloomberg is facing criticism after his presidential campaign on Thursday tweeted out a video from the previous night’s debate that was selectively edited to make it appear that his fellow candidates fell into a lengthy silence when he asked if any of them have started their own business.

Bloomberg’s Twitter account posted the video, which shows the former New York mayor and businessman posing the question on stage in Las Vegas.

“I’m the only one here that’s ever started business. Is that fair?” asked the Bloomberg News founder.

Anyone? pic.twitter.com/xqhq5qFYVk

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) February 20, 2020

Bloomberg’s video then clipped various moments from the debate and edited them together to make it appear as if a lengthy pause occurred immediately after he asked his question.

Crickets can be heard as the video scans each of his fellow candidates.

It briefly shows Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) starting to speak and raising her hand before sighing. Another clip shows Warren shuffling papers at her podium.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is seen taking a deep breath while former Vice President Joe Biden raises his eyebrows.

“OK,” Bloomberg said after the lengthy pause.

Multiple Twitter users pointed out that the clip was edited to appear roughly 20 seconds longer than during the actual debate.

Stef Feldman, policy director for the Biden campaign, wrote that the edited video was “truly horrifying.”

That noise you hear? Another alarm bell for our democracy going off.

Truly horrifying that the Bloomberg team put out such a deceptively edited video. https://t.co/DyzZ9DAEi8

— Stef Feldman (@StefFeldman) February 20, 2020

Andom Ghebreghiorgis, a congressional candidate running in New York’s 16th District, called it “propaganda.”

This is deceptively edited propaganda. Mike Bloomberg was destroyed in the debate last night, rightly attacked for the racist policies he pushed and his history of sexual misconduct. Mike Bloomberg is a fraud, attempting to buy the nomination. Don’t be fooled. https://t.co/M8FeJzz0SP

— Andom Ghebreghiorgis (@AndomForNY) February 20, 2020

Some wrote that the clip could be misleading those who didn’t watch the debate live.

For a while now, campaigns have edited in sound over debate clips. But it’s clear it’s for dramatic effect.

Bloomberg actually inserts video that never happened & that’s not clear to viewers.

It’s not quite a Deep Fake. Maybe it’s a Shallow Fake? https://t.co/dNTJtMvVKu

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) February 20, 2020

between this deceptively edited video, the TV & radio ads that imply Obama endorsed him, the paid social media/texting that’s designed to seem organic…

Bloomberg is weaponizing disinfo in ways that fundamentally undermine democracy. https://t.co/nmSyEC82qB

— Jesse Lehrich (@JesseLehrich) February 20, 2020

Others also noted that President Trump has also tweeted out viral videos containing notable alterations.

Team Bloomberg edits last night’s performance, drawing out his rivals’ silence to make them look like dummies. Where have we seen this kind of trick before? From Team Trump, with Pelosi, earlier this month: https://t.co/sbwBHo8Ck5 https://t.co/uJtRFK6Jek

— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) February 20, 2020

“It’s tongue in cheek,” Bloomberg press secretary Galia Slayen said in a statement. “There were obviously no crickets on the debate stage.”

Last May, Trump tweeted a video edited to make it seem like Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was stumbling over her words.

The controversial clip, which did not violate the platform’s guidelines, kicked off a larger conversation about how social media companies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are planning to handle manipulated footage leading up to the 2020 presidential elections.

Twitter said last year that it is crafting a new policy to limit the reach of “deep fakes,” or videos altered using artificial intelligence in misleading ways, and other manipulated media.

Some factors the platform will consider under the new rule include whether the content has been substantially edited in any manner that alters compositions, sequence, timing or framing, as well as whether it adds or removes any visual or auditory information like overdubbed audio or new video frames.

According to Twitter, Bloomberg’s video would likely be labeled under these guidelines “to give additional context around what people are seeing.”

“We will start labeling Tweets with this type of media on March 5, 2020,” Twitter said.

Twitter said earlier this month that altered videos will be labeled as “manipulated media” and will include a link to more “reputable sources.”

We know that some Tweets include manipulated photos or videos that can cause people harm. Today we’re introducing a new rule and a label that will address this and give people more context around these Tweets pic.twitter.com/P1ThCsirZ4

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) February 4, 2020