Twitter deleted a tweet by Donald J. Trump’s for containing a fan-made video.
On April 4, the Republican frontrunner tweeted a parody video of Electronic Art’s (EA) “Mass Effect 2” launch trailer. The video features images of Trump, Democratic frontrunner Hilary Clinton, and Doctor Ben Carson, among others.
On April 5 the Tweet had been replaced by a “Tweet withheld” error message which says: “This Tweet from @realDonaldTrump has been withheld in response to a report from the copyright holder.”
The parody video, viewable above—entitled “Trump Effect”—was originally posted on March 25 to vid.me with the caption: “A Mass Effect 2 launch trailer parody video covered under Fair Use.”
“Mass Effect 2,” an action role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts (EA), is set in a distant and violent science fiction future.
“Trump Effect” closely copies the “Mass Effect 2” launch trailer—viewable at the bottom of this article—even borrowing Martin Sheen’s voice-over portrayal of the Illusive Man. In the Mass Effect universe, the Illusive Man is a secretive leader of a paramilitary organization.
Since its upload, the parody video has garnered upwards of 130,000 views on vid.me alone. It is possible that EA submitted a complaint to Twitter regarding the possible illegal use of their copyrighted material—in fact it is more than likely, since a YouTube version of the video has also been removed due to “a copyright claim by EA.”
It is up for debate whether the video was made by a Trump supporter or a Trump detractor.
