Twitter basically just admitted it doesn't understand its own policies

Twitter doesn't understand its own policies.

That's the only conclusion to draw from the company's bizarre change of course today in regards to Donald Trump's Twitter account. One day after saying that it didn't remove Trump's retweets of far-right anti-Muslim propaganda because of a "legitimate public interest," CEO Jack Dorsey said that reasoning was a mistake.

But not because those tweets appear to violate Twitter's policies. No, it turns out the company just cited the wrong loophole in its policies.

To recap: Earlier this week, on Wednesday Trump's ever popular Twitter account sparked a fresh controversy when the president retweeted a series of anti-Muslim propaganda videos.

When pushed for comment on why the company wouldn't remove the tweets, which ostensibly violate the company's policies against hate speech and promoting violence, a Twitter spokesperson on Thursday directed CNN to a portion of its policy that states the following:

To help ensure people have an opportunity to see every side of an issue, there may be the rare occasion when we allow controversial content or behavior which may otherwise violate our Rules to remain on our service because we believe there is a legitimate public interest in its availability.

Today, though, Twitter admitted it got it wrong, saying its previous explanations had "caused some confusion." The real reason it didn't take action on the videos has nothing to do with "public interest," but the company's rather vague media guidelines governing graphic content.

Under that policy, "some forms of graphic violence or adult content may be permitted in Tweets when they are marked as sensitive media."

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

The company didn't offer any further explanation about how it prioritizes policies that would appear to conflict with each other or how it determines what type of "sensitive media" is allowed on its platform. In a tweet, Dorsey said the company was "still looking critically at all our content policies."

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

A Twitter spokesperson declined to elaborate.

Needless to say, though, this confusing explanation and then reversal didn't go over well with many Twitter users, who have already been sharply criticial of the company's handling of Trump's Twitter account.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.