Mike Bloomberg accused of editing debate clip to make it look like he silenced his rivals

Presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg has circulated a doctored video of his debate performance on Twitter which made it look like he silenced his rivals during Wednesday's fiery Democratic debate.

On Thursday morning, the former mayor of New York City’s Twitter account shared a video of Mr Bloomberg at Wednesday night’s Democratic Party primary debate in Nevada.

In the video, Mr Bloomberg is shown turning to his fellow candidates and asking “I’m the only one here, I think, that’s ever started a business, is that fair?”

The candidates stand in silence, as though shut down by the question. Cuts are edited into the video to give the impression that the other candidates are utterly speechless at Mr Bloomberg’s remark. Former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg looks panicky while Senators Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and vice president Joe Biden stare blankly or hang their heads. Cricket noises play in the background.

While it should be apparent to most viewers that the clip has clearly been edited for comedic effect, the original Twitter post offers no indication that it has been altered.

The only writing on the tweet is the word “Anyone?”

Galia Slayen, the Bloomberg campaign’s spokesperson, told Talking Points Memo that the video was “tongue in cheek. There were obviously no crickets on the debate stage.”

Mr Bloomberg’s decision to post the altered clip drew criticism on Twitter.

Twitter user @TryCrying argued the video was violating the site’s rules about videos intentionally edited to deceive.

“This is against @TwitterSupport rules of deceptively edited videos,” the user wrote. “This is political propaganda and Twitter made a statement last month about how these types of posts are bannable offenses.”

Not everyone was critical of Mr Bloomberg. The Twitter account belonging to Gab.com - a social media site that advertises itself as a champion of free-speech but often serves as a drain-filter that catches white supremacist and right-wing hate accounts that get banned from Twitter - praised his “memetic energy.”

In the original video, Mr Bloomberg asks his question, hesitates for a moment, and then continues to speak.