Home

Facebook removes Trump post over coronavirus misinformation

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Facebook Inc on Wednesday took down a post by US President Donald Trump, which the company said violated its rules against sharing misinformation about the coronavirus.

The post contained a video clip, from an interview with Fox & Friends earlier in the day, Trump claimed that children are “almost immune” to COVID-19.

“This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19, which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The spokesperson said it was the first time that the social media company had removed a Trump post for coronavirus misinformation.

It also appeared to be the first reported instance of Facebook taking down a post from the president for breaching its misinformation rules.

The company had previously removed ads from Trump’s election campaign for breaking misinformation rules, in that case around a national census.

It had also taken down both Trump posts and campaign ads that showed a red inverted triangle, a symbol the Nazis used to identify political prisoners, for violating its policy against organised hate.

A Trump tweet containing the video was still available on Twitter on Wednesday evening. Twitter Inc, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Author

MOST READ