Twitter says it will no longer enforce its long-standing COVID-19 misinformation policy that involved deleting tweets and suspending accounts regarding the coronavirus pandemic that the platform deemed as “potentially harmful and misleading information.”
The social media platform posted a notice to its website that it was abandoning the policy effective last Wednesday, one of the latest changes that the site has undergone under the helm of Elon Musk.
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The COVID-19 misinformation policy was in place since January 2020 and as of September 2022, the platform had suspended 11,230 Twitter accounts and removed 97,674 pieces of content that violated the policy.
To enforce the policy, Twitter had outlined what type of content violated their rules, including “denial of established scientific facts,” content selling non-prescription treatments/cures for COVID-19, and statements that were intended to influence others to violate recommended COVID-19 guidance from world or local health authorities, such as saying that “social distancing is not effective,” according to the guidelines posted on their website.
Last year, the company announced it would label tweets that had potentially misleading information regarding COVID-19 vaccines as well and implement a strike system that would eventually lead to accounts being suspended if the user posted multiple pieces of content that were flagged.
The Biden administration has pushed social media giants to be more aggressive in policing information related to COVID-19, suggesting that misinformation has deepened public mistrust in health institutions, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The administration had previously pointed to Twitter’s COVID-19 misinformation policy as a model for other platforms, such as Facebook, which has since instituted similar rules regarding COVID-19.
“I mean, look, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who have died this year because people were under-vaccinated, people did not get their [vaccines] — people weren’t boosted,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, at a press briefing last week. “And it is not blaming the people who died. It is blaming the fact we still have a lot of people out there spreading misinformation, undermining people’s confidence in vaccines.”
Musk, who acquired the company last month, has argued that there should be less oversight on the platform to safeguard free speech.
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Musk previously announced he intends to form a content moderation council to oversee content on the site, though that power has largely been left up to him after reinstating several banned accounts, including former President Donald Trump.
Facebook and Instagram still have their COVID-19 misinformation policies in place.
