Facebook, Twitter penalise Trump over virus posts

Action taken to prevent spreading of misinformation

Facebook and Twitter on Wednesday took extraordinary action against President Donald Trump for spreading coronavirus misinformation after his official and campaign accounts broke their rules, respectively.

Facebook removed from Trump’s official account the post of a video clip from a Fox News interview in which he said that children are “almost immune” from Covid-19. Twitter required his Team Trump campaign account to delete a tweet with the same video, blocking it from tweeting in the interim.

The twin actions came three months before the elections in which Trump’s performance on coronavirus is a key issue.

Misinformation

In the removed video, president Trump can be heard in a phone interview saying schools should open. He goes on to say, “If you look at children, children are almost — and I would almost say definitely — but almost immune from this disease,” and that they have stronger immune systems.

The twin actions came three months before the elections in which Trump’s performance on coronavirus is a key issue, and the social media companies have made it clear in recent months that they will not tolerate misinformation on the global pandemic.

The decision represents something of an about face for Facebook, whose chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has long been a proponent of free speech on his site. Zuckerberg under pressure in late June said the company will remove posts that incite violence or attempt to suppress voting – even from political leaders – and that the company will affix labels on posts that violate hate speech or other policies.

Twitter, meanwhile, has taken a more aggressive stance, flagging several of Trump’s tweets for misinformation and even blocking his son, Donald Trump Jr., from tweeting for 12 hours for breaking its coronavirus misinformation rules.

Twitter said it hid the campaign’s post and said the account wouldn’t be able to tweet again until it’s deleted, although it can appeal the decision. The Trump campaign account was active again late Wednesday night.