The President

Facebook, Twitter Cite Trump Campaign For COVID-19 Misinformation

Facebook and Twitter removed posts by the Trump campaign for sharing misinformation about the coronavirus.

Facebook, Twitter Cite Trump Campaign For COVID-19 Misinformation
AP / J. DAVID AKE / FILE
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Facebook and Twitter each took issue with posts made by President Trump on Wednesday.

Twitter temporarily prevented the Trump campaign from tweeting after its account posted a video of the president saying children are "almost immune" to the coronavirus. Twitter says the post violated its rules on COVID-19 misinformation, but later confirmed that it had restored the account's privileges.

Facebook deleted a similar post made by the campaign, also citing COVID-19 misinformation.

Nonetheless, the Trump campaign defended the president's words. On Thursday, the president said he was echoing remarks he'd heard from doctors, but didn't provide further details. Officials added that the removals were examples of Silicon Valley's alleged bias against President Trump.

Back in June, Twitter raised the ire of the president after it added warnings to his posts about anti-racism protests in Washington, D.C. And recently, it imposed restrictions on Donald Trump, Jr. after the president's son tweeted a video featuring false claims about the virus.

Facebook and Twitter have shown a greater willingness to restrict misinformation on their platforms, even if posted by the White House. In May, President Trump responded to the alleged "censorship" by issuing an executive order to remove liability protections for online platforms. The order is currently being considered by the FCC.

For Newsy, I'm Adam Elrashidi.