Twitter marks media post by Justin Trudeau as “manipulated media”: What you need to know

Picture Courtesy: Toronto Sun

A media post shared by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on late Sunday was marked as “manipulated media” by Twitter. The post was a retweet of a video of Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole’s answer in a 2020 interview on the subject of privatized health care.

In the video in question, O’Toole agreed to the statement that if he would allow the Canadian provinces to experiment with providing private and not-for-profit services inside of universal coverage. In the video, he also says that the private sector involvement would drive innovation.

The video had been circulated by multiple Liberal candidates throughout the day, it was first shared by deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. Today the Prime Minister also mentioned the comments made by O’Toole in one of the rallies in New Brunswick.

As the video was being circulated, the conservatives pointed out the video was edited and it conveniently leaves out the portion where O’Toole says that universal insurance is of paramount importance.

In response to the comments from conservatives and Twitter, the Liberal campaign said in a statement, “The highlights are an accurate reflection of Mr. O’Toole’s statement in its entirety. We disagree with the assessment and are seeking an explanation from Twitter.”

Mathew Clancy, media relations manager for the Conservative campaign said, “It’s disappointing to see the Liberals resort to American-style divisive politics. While Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are focused on spreading misinformation — Erin O’Toole is focused on Canada’s Recovery Plan and securing the future.”