War Escalates: Twitter Removes Trump’s Own Image after NYT Files Copyright Complaint

The tweet in question was posted by Trump on Tuesday and featured a photo of him along with words: “In reality they’re not after me, they’re after you. I’m just in the way.”

Trump is no stranger to using photos of himself to make a statement on his social media of choice. This time, however, the US president apparently made a mistake, using a picture snapped by Times’ photographer Damon Winter.

It did not take long for the paper, which has recently escalated its attacks on the Republican leader, to spot Trump's apparent blunder and file a copyright claim, Axios first reported on Wednesday.

Upon removing the post, Twitter confirmed that the company acted upon a copyright complaint from a rights holder. The Times, in turn, acknowledged that they urged the social media giant to take action.

The photo originally illustrated a story on Trump the NYT ran back in 2015.

It’s not the first time Twitter pulled one of Trump’s posts citing copyright violations. Last month, the platform removed a video sporting a mock CNN chyron shared by the president. The video, which saw one toddler running after another, was removed after the children's parents filed copyright claims.

CNN, as well as the Times, have long been embroiled in a very public war with Trump, who has repeatedly labelled them “fake news”.