Twitter flags, limits sharing on Trump tweet about being ‘“immune” to coronavirus

Twitter disabled some sharing choices on a tweet from President Trump on Sunday, and labeled it for violating its guidelines in opposition to spreading coronavirus misinformation. In the tweet, the president stated he had “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!!”

Even with the label, the tweet remains to be out there for many who click on by means of the warning, in line with Twitter’s place that protecting tweets from elected officers seen is within the public curiosity. And makes an attempt to share the tweet carry up an alert that reads “We try to prevent a Tweet like this that otherwise breaks the Twitter Rules from reaching more people.” The labeled tweet remains to be in a position to be quote-tweeted, nonetheless.



The president’s assertion that he’s now “immune” since he already contracted the coronavirus is probably going what bought the tweet flagged, since there have been documented instances of coronavirus sufferers changing into reinfected. A person in Nevada had COVID-19 in March then recovered in April solely to fall unwell once more in May. The first documented case of a coronavirus reinfection occurred in Hong Kong, the place the affected person confirmed no signs the second time round.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web site has restricted info about reinfections, however says “a person who has had and recovered from COVID-19 may have low levels of virus in their bodies for up to 3 months after diagnosis,” and that the science “does not imply a person is immune to reinfection” from the virus.

A Twitter spokesperson stated it was not the primary time the platform has disabled sharing on a tweet by the president containing incorrect info. In addition to updating its insurance policies final month that it will label or take away tweets with false info about election rigging and outcomes, Twitter additionally stated it will label posts from candidates prematurely declaring victory. And Twitter stated again in March that it was taking a “zero-tolerance approach” to coronavirus misinformation on its platform.

Last week’s updates additional tightened the principles round spreading misinformation, and inspired individuals to quote-tweet and “add their own commentary” to tweets earlier than retweeting somebody. The replace additionally included plans to flag or take away tweets meant to incite interference within the election or election outcomes, and tweets from political figures with greater than 100,000 followers — which incorporates President Trump — labeled as “misleading” are actually tougher to entry

Twitter has labeled a number of of Trump’s tweets for violating its coverage on manipulated media and civic and election integrity for tweeting falsehoods about mail-in voting.

The White House didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Sunday.

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