Twitter gets more serious about its coronavirus misinformation control

By: Ian Biong - 4 years ago

Twitter is ramping up its control over the spread of coronavirus misinformation on the platform. Image: AFP/Leon Neal

On Wednesday Twitter broadened its definition of “harmful” in relation to its removal of harmful misinformation about COVID-19 on its platform.

Now, its policy goes so far as to say that “content that increases the chance that someone contracts or transmits the virus” is harmful and must be removed, not simply misinformation about the disease itself.

Content that increases the chance that someone contracts or transmits the virus, including:
– Denial of expert guidance
– Encouragement to use fake or ineffective treatments, preventions, and diagnostic techniques
– Misleading content purporting to be from experts or authorities

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) March 18, 2020

Content now deemed as dangerous includes those posts that claim expert guidance—like that issued by nationally recognized health officials—is false, those that encourage people to use “fake or ineffective treatments, preventions, and diagnostic techniques,” and those consisting of misleading information published by self-proclaimed “experts.”

These changes are in effect as of Wednesday; however, considering how the virus and the media’s response to it evolves every day that the pandemic continues, it’s likely that this list will expand even more in the near future. IB

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