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CNN and reporter Andrew Kaczynski are being accused of "blackmailing" the man who created a GIF showing President Donald Trump "attacking" the news network.

On Sunday, the president tweeted a GIF of himself wrestling and punching a man with the CNN logo superimposed over his head.

In an article Tuesday, Kaczynski wrote that he uncovered the identity of the Reddit user who created the GIF - user name “HanA**holeSolo” - by comparing information posted on Reddit to Facebook profiles.

Kaczynski said that the man sounded nervous about his identity being revealed, and he apologized.

Exclusive: CNN tracked down the Reddit user behind the Trump wrestling GIF. Now he's apologizing. https://t.co/HMEKfD1De3 — CNN (@CNN) July 5, 2017

While CNN decided against publishing the man's real name, it did say it "reserves the right to publish his identity" if he makes offensive posts in future.

“CNN is not publishing HanA**holeSolo’s name because 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,” the article stated. “CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.”

Now, some are accusing CNN and Kaczynski of "blackmailing" HanA**holeSolo by threatening to release his identity.

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If only @CNN spent as much time tracking down info on IRS targeting, Fast & Furious, Iran deal etc as they did a meme writer! #CNNBlackmail — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 5, 2017

A multi-billion dollar TV network blackmailing a private citizen into not making funny videos about it is not journalism, CNN. #CNNBlackmail — Julian Assange (@Real_Assange) July 5, 2017

23 minutes ago a @cnn host defending the hunting down of a private citizen to ruin. So how high up does #cnnblackmail strategy go? https://t.co/oV3mDWwizp — Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) July 5, 2017

pretty crazy - a network chases some dude down over a joke. then works him over, and announces all is good unless this dude misbehaves. — GregGutfeld (@greggutfeld) July 5, 2017

The optics of going after people on Independence Day simply for making memes. And some wonder why people are frustrated with media. — Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) July 5, 2017

So if you make any anti-@CNN gif's they will hunt you down and threaten to expose all your private information. Someone explain this to me? — Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) July 5, 2017

I cannot express how absolutely bizarre I think it is @CNN is spending it's time and resources tracking down a Reddit user who made a gif... — Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) July 5, 2017

There is no greater chilling effect on speaking truth to power than when the powerful dig up personal data on people. @cnn must stop this. https://t.co/P1nIhtONBA — Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) July 5, 2017

I'm still confused by the "innocent" explanation for this line from the CNN report. Is there one? pic.twitter.com/8mHRhf7Um2 — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 5, 2017

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