Photo: PA
Social media platform Twitter has banned the President’s son Donald Trump Jr. from posting any tweets. The tech giant claimed he shared ‘potentially harmful information’ after posting a link to a viral video of a doctor claiming hydroxychloroquine is a ‘cure’ for coronavirus.
In the video, Dr Stella Immanuel, a physician from Houston, Texas, promotes hydroxychloroquine as a cure for coronavirus. She claims to have successfully treated 350 people “and counting”, including some with underlying medical conditions.
‘We’ve temporarily limited some of your account features,’ the Twitter post reads.
‘We have determined that this account violated the Twitter Rules. Specifically, for: 1. Violating the policy on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.’
The President himself retweeted a video pushing misleading claims about hydroxychloroquine. Earlier in the pandemic, Mr Trump advocated vigorously for hydroxychloroquine to be used as a treatment, or even to prevent Covid-19, asking people, “What have you got to lose?”.
Trump shared a post from the Twitter account for a podcast hosted by Steve Bannon, a former top White House adviser to Mr Trump, accusing Dr Anthony Fauci of misleading the public over hydroxychloroquine.
Mr Trump also said he took a 14-day course of hydroxychloroquine.
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have started scrubbing their sites of the video because it includes misleading claims about hydroxychloroquine and glosses over the dangers of taking it. But dozens of versions of the video remain live on their platforms, with conservative news outlets, groups and internet personalities sharing it on their pages, where users have viewed them millions of times.
One version of the video had more than 17 million views before Facebook took it down.
Facebook is trying to remove the video because it is “sharing false information about cures and treatments for Covid-19,” according to Andy Stone, a spokesman for the platform.
As of Tuesday morning the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. is nearing 4.3 million and the death toll has surpassed 148,000.
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