taken on March 25, 2020, a Facebook app logo is displayed on a
smartphone in Arlington, Virginia. Olivier DOULIERY /
AFP
Facebook on Tuesday removed a post by US President
Donald Trump for downplaying Covid-19 danger by saying the season
flu is more deadly, in a rare step against the American leader by
the leading social network.
A day after checking out of a hospital where he received
first-class treatment for Covid-19, Trump used Twitter and Facebook
to post messages inaccurately contending that people have more to
fear from the flu.
“We remove incorrect information about the severity of Covid-19,
and have now removed this post,” Facebook said in reply to an AFP
inquiry.
Twitter added a notice to the tweeted version of the Trump post
, saying the message was left up due to public interest but that it
violated rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful
information related to Covid-19.
Twitter also added a link to reliable Covid-19 information.
Trump checked out of hospital Monday after four days of
emergency treatment for Covid-19, pulling off his mask the moment
he reached the White House and vowing to quickly get back on the
campaign trail.
Shortly beforehand, Trump had tweeted that Americans, who have
lost nearly 210,000 people to the pandemic, should not be afraid of
the .coronavirus.
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Facebook in August removed a video post by Trump in which he
contended that children are “almost immune” to the coronavirus, a
claim the social network called “harmful COVID misinformation.”
That was the first time the leading social network pulled a post
from the president’s page for being dangerously incorrect.
Facebook faces pressure to prevent the spread of misinformation
while simultaneously being accused of silencing viewpoints by
calling for posts to be truthful.
Health officials have urged people of all age groups to protect
themselves against exposure to the virus, saying everyone is at
risk.
Trump has unleashed an array of misleading medical speculation,
criticism for his own top virus expert and praise for an eccentric
preacher-doctor touting conspiracy theories.
Facebook has largely held firm to a policy that it would not
fact-check political leaders, but it has pledged to take down any
post which could lead to violence or mislead people about the
voting process.
A coalition of activists has pressed Facebook to be more
aggressive in removing hateful content and misinformation,
including from the president and political leaders.
AFP
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