Facebook, Twitter Remove Trump Video Over Coronavirus Remarks
By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 8/6/2020 10:14 AM ET
Facebook removed a video that President Donald Trump posted on his official Facebook account in which he claimed that children were "almost immune" to the coronavirus.
Twitter also took action against the same content that appeared on a Trump campaign account by freezing it until it was removed.
In a video clip of Trump's interview to Fox News Wednesday, the President said, "If you look at children, children are almost — and I would almost say definitely — but almost immune from this disease." He added that they have stronger immune systems.
Trump made the controversial remark while trying to substantiate his point on the morning show "Fox and Friends" that it was time for all schools in the country to reopen.
Facebook removed the video from Trump's FB wall saying it violated the social media giant's policies against "harmful COVID misinformation."
"This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement to media.
Team Trump shared the same video on the official Twitter account of the Trump Campaign.
The tweet "is in violation of the Twitter Rules on COVID-19 misinformation. The account owner will be required to remove the Tweet before they can Tweet again," a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.
Team Trump obliged, and the Twitter account was restored live.
Trump 2020 Campaign's Rapid Response Director Andrew Clarke Twitter responded to the penal action saying, "Twitter suspended @TeamTrump for a clip of the President talking (accurately) about children's reduced susceptibility to coronavirus amid school reopening."
He alleged that the guy who announced Twitter's decision used to get paid as a Kamala Harris spokesman.
Although children are less likely to get infected and transmit the virus than adults, a few COVID-related deaths in that category were reported in some countries.
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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.
Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe