Twitter chooses to not flag Trump's racist tweets

President Donald Trump's comments on Twitter are again stirring controversy. The president used the social media site to attack "'Progressive' Democrat Congresswomen" in a series of racist tweets on Sunday. These tweets are still viewable and have yet to be flagged by Twitter.

"Go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came," Trump tweeted in part on Sunday. Although he didn't name the women, the president was alluding to four Democratic congresswomen nicknamed "the Squad": Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. 

There was a public outcry following the president's tweets with many condemning the comments, though only a few Republican lawmakers so far have called the tweets racist.

Twitter didn't have a comment on why the president's tweets weren't flagged. 

Last month, Twitter changed how tweets from public officials, including Trump, that violate the platform's policies are treated. The company said it'd flag and down-rank or deprioritize those tweets from people's feeds, featuring them less prominently on the site. But it wouldn't remove them if they're seen as being in the public interest. 

The social media platform does have a policy regarding "hateful conduct" that says users can't promote or directly attack others based on race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or serious disease. 

The four Democratic congresswomen held a press briefing Monday in response to the president's tweets. 

"When people say, 'If you say a negative thing about the policies in this country, you hate this country,' to me, it sort of speaks to the hypocrisy," Omar said. "When this President ran and until today, he talked about everything that was wrong in this country and how he was going to make it great. And so for him to condemn us and to say we are un-American for wanting to work hard to make this country be the country we all deserve to live in, it's complete hypocrisy."

Trump defended his tweets Monday at the White House during a press briefing for his "Made in America" celebration. He says he didn't name specific individuals but advised them if they don't like the country they can leave. 

"These are people that in my opinion hate our country," he said. "They can leave and I'm sure there will be many people that won't miss them."

The president continued the defense of his tweets on Tuesday on Twitter saying his tweets weren't racist. 

The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.