JULY | #Cnnblackmail

#Cnnblackmail soared to the top of Twitter’s trending hashtags in July 2017 after the network allegedly threatened to reveal the identity of a Reddit user who had created a GIF mocking CNN that was used in a tweet by US President Donald Trump. Long story short, Trump tweeted a short video bashing CNN’S coverage along with the hashtag #Fraudnewscnn on July 2. After seeing the tweet, a Reddit user who had made a GIF very similar to Trump’s video just a few days before came forward to take credit for it, thinking the President had used his exact GIF. After successfully tracking down the user, CNN responded with an article published on the evening of July 4th, noting that it would not reveal his identity given that “he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again” yet clearly stating that the network “reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change” at the end. The latter line was perceived as blackmail by many social media users, who rushed to condemn the network’s position under widely popular hashtag #Cnnblackmail.