Kara Alaimo, an associate professor of public relations at Hofstra University, is the author of "Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street: How to Practice Global Public Relations and Strategic Communication." She was spokeswoman for international affairs in the Treasury Department during the Obama administration. Follow her on Twitter @karaalaimo. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. View more opinion at CNN.

(CNN) Twitter's handling of President Donald Trump's account makes no sense.

Kara Alaimo

Twitter has removed a video meme posted by President Donald Trump on Wednesday of an edited music clip by the band Nickelback after receiving a copyright infringement complaint from Warner Music, Inc. At the same time, Twitter has chosen not to delete a tweet by President Donald Trump on Sunday quoting a pastor who claimed that if the President is impeached, there will be a civil war.

The Department of Homeland Security recently affirmed the urgent threat of white supremacy in the United States, and as my fellow CNN Opinion contributor Nicole Hemmer has argued , the President's past tweets have helped spur domestic terrorism fueled by white power, and this one could result in actual violence, as well. So here's where we are now: Twitter will allow the President to invoke civil war, but harming Nickelback's rights to their own music is a step too far.

President Trump's actions on and off social media have long been and will continue to be a subject of consternation and debate for many. But aside from that, there is clearly something very, very wrong with Twitter's standards. The platform's decisions this week suggest that the company is ultimately focused only on its own concerns rather than on the larger welfare of society. Twitter will step in and take action when it fears that it could face a lawsuit itself, as in the case of Nickelback. But when others potentially stand to face threats of hate or bodily harm as a result of a presidential tweet, Twitter isn't willing to do the same thing.

The company likely (justifiably) fears facing the wrath of the President, who has accused Twitter of discriminating against conservatives in the past, if it deletes tweets. CNN has reported that the White House has even drafted an executive order which would have the Federal Communications Commission determine whether social media platforms can remove particular content. The draft would allow the Federal Trade Commission to sue companies like Twitter if they don't comply with government policy. While Twitter is right to be worried about the prospect of such a chilling development, that isn't an excuse to allow the President to post content that could put Americans in physical danger.