Twitter says it will no longer enforce Covid policy on misleading information

Twitter will no longer enforce a policy to combat misinformation about the Covid pandemic.

“Twitter will no longer enforce the COVID-19 misinformation policy on November 23, 2022,” a Comment on Twitter’s transparency pages.

It’s the latest change under new owner Elon Musk, who has promised to see more relaxed speaking on the platform. He reinstated Donald Trump’s account after Trump was suspended following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Twitter introduced new policies in early 2020 as the pandemic forced a global shutdown and rumors and allegations about Covid spread rapidly on social media. These include “statements intended to persuade others to violate recommended COVID-19-related guidelines from global or local public health authorities to reduce a person’s likelihood of exposure to COVID-19, such as: ‘Social distancing is not not effective’ or ‘now that it’s ‘summer, you don’t need a mask anymore, so don’t wear your mask!’ misleading information; in others, accounts have been suspended.

According to its most recent September report, before Musk took control of the platform, Twitter banned 11,230 accounts under the policy and challenged 11.72 million accounts. Almost 100,000 pieces of content were removed.

Musk announced that he will begin recovering suspended accounts after investigating users who will be offered “general amnesty” who have not “broken the law or engaged in gross spam.” The vote was overwhelmingly “yes”.

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, last summer asked its oversight committee to review its policy on Covid disinformation, including whether there is “another, less restrictive approach that is more consistent with the company’s values ​​and human rights responsibilities.” A statement from the supervisory board is still pending.

Karine Jean-Pierre, press secretary of the White House, said on Monday that the government is “monitoring” developments on Twitter.

“Social media companies have a responsibility to prevent users from using their platforms to incite violence, especially violence directed at individual communities, as we have seen,” she said. “And the president made that very clear. He will continue to do so. And we will continue to keep a close eye on the situation.”