Instagram flagged a post by Madonna after the singer shared the same video about hydroxychloroquine that was removed from Twitter after being posted by President Trump.
Instagram deemed the video, in which Dr. Stella Immanuel calls hydroxychloroquine a “cure” for COVID-19, to be “false information” and noted that several fact-checking organizations have determined that there is not yet a confirmed cure for the coronavirus.
If a post is flagged as “false information” on Instagram, it is not fully removed from the platform, but it becomes restricted from search features and limited on feeds. In her caption to the post, Madonna claimed that there was a conspiracy to keep hydroxychloroquine from the public.
—@Madonna posted the viral coronavirus misinformation video tonight. Just really depressing how people with huge platforms spread nonsense like this. pic.twitter.com/DWxNarjjX9
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) July 29, 2020
“[S]ome people dont want to hear the truth,” Madonna wrote. “Especially the people in power who stand to make money from this long, drawn out search for a vaccine. … They would rather let fear control them and let the rich get richer and the poor and sick get sicker.”
The video featured Immanuel, a doctor with a lengthy history of controversial medical claims. Madonna and Immanuel referred to hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria, as a “cure” that has been “proven” to help those battling COVID-19. The video was also removed from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube after being deemed “misinformation.”
