On Tuesday, Facebook took down the posts from U.S. President Donald Trump for violating their rules against coronavirus misinformation by suggesting that COVID-19 was just like the flu.
Facebook took the post down but not before it was shared about 26,000 times, data from the company’s metric tool CrowdTangle showed.
“We remove incorrect information about the severity of COVID-19,” a company spokesman told Reuters.
Meanwhile, Twitter disabled retweets on a similar tweet from Trump on Tuesday and added a warning label that said it broke its rules on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19 but that it might be in the public interest for it to remain accessible.
Twitter, which has been using labels to flag tweets with misinformation – including from the president – told Reuters it is currently trying to respond more quickly and more overtly.
On Monday, Trump told Americans to get out there and not fear COVID-19 as he returned to the White House after a three-night stay in a military hospital outside Washington where he was treated for COVID-19.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Courtney Parella said: “Silicon Valley and the mainstream media have consistently used their platforms to fearmonger and censor President Trump to serve their own agenda, even now during this critical moment in the fight against coronavirus.”
