Facebook and Twitter take action against misleading Trump post

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Facebook on Tuesday removed a post from President Trump in which he falsely claimed that COVID-19 is less deadly “in most populations” than the flu. Twitter labeled the tweet for violating its rules about “spreading misleading and potentially harmful information,” but left it up because it may be “in the public’s interest.”

Why it matters: Facebook has been criticized for not removing posts that violate community guidelines in a timely manner, yet the company sprung to action when Trump posted misinformation about the virus that “could contribute to imminent physical harm.” Twitter took action about 30 minutes later.

What they’re saying:

  • A Facebook spokesperson told Axios: “We remove incorrect information about the severity of COVID-19, and have now removed this post.”
  • A Twitter spokesperson told Axios: We placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our COVID-19 Misleading Information Policy by making misleading health claims about COVID-19. As is standard with this public interest notice, engagements with the Tweet will be significantly limited.” Continue reading.