Similar protocols at Facebook and YouTube remain in effect
Twitter has quietly halted enforcement of its COVID-19 misinformation policies, with Twitter users first discovering the change Monday night, according to CNN.
Twitter issued a variety of measures since the pandemic’s onset in 2020, including a policy that allowed users to report misinformation directly to Twitter to another taking action against tweets that alleged vaccinated individuals could still spread COVID-19. The policy, which has suspended more than 11,000 accounts and removed more than 90,000 pieces of content on the social media platform, was praised by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy as a model for how other companies could combat misinformation, according to CNN.
“Effective Nov. 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy,” an update to the app’s website regarding COVID-19 misinformation reads.
Twitter’s policy was similar to those implemented by Facebook and YouTube, which remain in effect, according to Reuters. The relationship between these social media platforms and White House officials, including Chief Medical Advisor to the President Dr. Anthony Fauci and former Press Secretary Jennifer Psaki, is central to an ongoing lawsuit brought by Republican Attorneys General Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Jeff Landry of Louisiana alleging that the federal government colluded with private social media companies to suppress users’ free speech rights.
CEO Elon Musk — who has styled himself as a champion of free speech online — has struggled to retain departing advertisers, who often cite concern over the future of Twitter’s moderation policies under the tech mogul. Musk alleged Monday that Apple had significantly cut back on advertising on the platform and had threatened to pull Twitter from its app store without explaining why, before he accused the company of engaging in censorship.
The tech mogul recently reinstated a variety of high-profile conservative accounts including psychologist Jordan Peterson, the satirical website The Babylon Bee and former President Donald Trump. Civil rights groups accused Musk of fostering hate speech on the platform, which could potentially drive real world violence, following his announcement that he would grant “general amnesty” to all suspended accounts on the platform “provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam,” according to Axios.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment.
This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Also read:
- ‘I collapsed’: Documentary stuns with life-altering COVID-shot injuriesA newly released documentary film is stunning its audience with overwhelming evidence of life-altering injuries from the COVID vaccines.
- Phone COVID-19 exposure notifications in Washington state have endedWashington State Department of Health ends program that sent COVID-19 exposure notifications to residents’ phones. With the recent end of the federal public health emergency, federal funding for a variety of pandemic-related programs has dried up.
- ‘Noxious and harmful’: New study shatters myth that masks protectA new study suggests that wearing COVID masks may have caused problems with high blood pressure, reduced thinking ability, increased respiratory problems, and the inhalation of excessive carbon dioxide, potentially leading to harmful effects on health.
- Gov. Inslee rescinds COVID-19 vaccine mandate for state employeesMore than 1,800 state employees were initially fired or voluntarily left their jobs for failing to comply with Inslee’s vaccine mandate.
- COVID tests declared unsafe, mass recall issuedFDA warns of bacterial infection risk and inaccurate results in a recall of SD Biosensor’s Pilot COVID-19 At-Home Tests distributed by Roche Diagnostics, affecting numerous lot numbers. The FDA reported that about 500,000 tests were distributed to CVS Health.
- Opinion: Federal vaccine mandate on employees is ending; Washington state’s remainsElizabeth Hovde believes the governor’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for remaining and future employees of small cabinet and executive agencies is misguided, discriminatory and outdated.
- ABC News censors Bobby Kennedy remarks critical of COVID vaccines‘Instead of journalism, the public saw a hatchet job.’
- Big Pharma under investigation for COVID-vaccine fraudTexas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson for possible violations of the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act over alleged COVID vaccine fraud and misrepresentation of efficacy and safety of the vaccines.
Free speech. What a concept.
Thank you, Elon Musk for reinstating free expression of diverse opinions. Please take the necessary steps to ensure that ‘freedom of speech’ is based on mutual respect and civility.
Twitter Ditches COVID Misinformation Policy, Plans to Reveal Internal Files on ‘Free Speech Suppression’
https://default.salsalabs.org/Tec2ad69b-334c-48a6-aa51-a9d330105eb6/1f3f68f1-1e32-4c05-aaa5-2940af3c4f91
Promising and very positive action, hopefully the first of many more.