Twitter Tags Trump Post About COVID-19 as Platform Cracks Down on Misinformation
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Twitter has again tagged a post by President Donald Trump for “spreading misleading and potentially harmful information” related to the coronavirus.
On Sunday morning, Trump tweeted: “A total and complete sign off from White House Doctors yesterday. That means I can’t get it (immune), and can’t give it. Very nice to know!!!”
In response, Twitter hid the post from his timeline and replaced it with a tag saying, “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”
Though it has not yet been disclosed if Trump has tested negative for the coronavirus after revealing Oct. 1 that he had contracted it, the president has been adamant that he is no longer contagious and is ready to return to the campaign trail.
On Friday, Twitter set new rules to hinder the spread of false information ahead of the presidential election that will go into affect on Oct. 20, including the labeling of tweets from either Trump or Democratic candidate Joe Biden that claim an early victory.
Twitter will also prompt users to the “quote tweet” function before they retweet a post that has been flagged as potentially misleading, encouraging them to add their own commentary before amplifying harmful information. Political figures will be especially monitored during this time, as well as accounts with more than 100,000 followers. Topics that these rules pertain to include the election, COVID-19 and civic integrity.
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