Donald Trump Jr.’s ability to tweet will be limited for 12 hours after Twitter found him in violation of its policy for spreading misinformation about COVID-19.
The restrictions were placed on the account after the president’s son posted a video on Monday evening in which a group claiming to be doctors said that hydroxychloroquine was a “cure” for the coronavirus and raised doubts about the need to wear masks.
A spokesperson for Twitter said the tweet “was in violation of our COVID-19 misinformation policy. We are taking action in line with our policy,” cited here.
The policy requires users to remove tweets that are claims of cures that “are not immediately harmful but are known to be ineffective,” as well as “description of harmful treatments or protection measures which are known to be ineffective.” Trump Jr. will be restricted from sending tweets or retweets, or liking posts on other accounts. He can still send direct messages to followers.
The video had been promoted by Brietbart.com, and Twitter even attached a note to its trending topics warning of the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine. “The FDA says hydroxychloroquine is ‘unlikely to be effective’ in treating COVID-19 and has revoked an emergency use authoritzation for the drug,” the message said.
President Donald Trump also retweeted clips from the video. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter removed the video.
According to a screenshot of Trump Jr.’s tweet, he shared the video with the message, “This is a much watch!! So different from the narrative that everyone is running with.”
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