Twitter Inc has withdrawn a policy that was intended to tackle misinformation related to COVID-19 on the social media platform, lending itself to the risk of a potential surge in false claims even as cases rise in China and parts of the world. Was giving
The move also comes amid concerns over Twitter’s ability to fight misinformation after letting go of nearly half its staff, including those involved in content moderation, under new boss Elon Musk.
According to an update on its blog page, “Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer implementing the COVID-19 Misleading Information Policy.” This update was first reported by CNN on Tuesday.
The specific measures being dropped by Twitter were not immediately clear, and the company did not immediately respond to a request to share more details.
At the start of COVID in 2020, Twitter took a number of measures, including labels and warning messages on tweets containing disputed information about the health crisis, and a framework for users to remove tweets containing harmful false claims related to vaccines.
Facebook, owned by Meta Platforms Inc, and Alphabet Inc’s YouTube services have employed similar measures, which are currently in place.
Earlier this year, Twitter said that from March 2021 it had stopped enforcing a “citizen integrity policy” related to falsehoods about the 2020 US presidential election.
Billionaire Musk took over Twitter on October 27, paying $44 billion for the company and moved quickly to introduce a number of changes to the product and staff. Musk said on October 29 that he would establish a content moderation council with “broadly diverse viewpoints”.
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