Facebook Removes Trump Post over Coronavirus Misinformation
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6 August 2020 10:59 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Facebook Inc on Wednesday took down a post by U.S. 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 spokesman said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The spokesman 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 organized 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.
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