Twitter slaps warning on President Trump tweet claiming coronavirus immunity
US President Trump has become subject to another fact-check warning on social media after claiming immunity to COVID-19.
In a tweet posted on Sunday, the US president claimed that physicians at the White House have given him a clean bill of health, and as a result, he is now “immune” to further infection by the novel coronavirus.
Trump also claimed he is no longer contagious.
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“A total and complete sign off from White House Doctors yesterday,” the tweet reads. “That means I can’t get it (immune), and can’t give it. Very nice to know!!!”
After the message was published, Twitter slapped a warning label on the tweet. The microblogging platform says the tweet “violated the Twitter Rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.”
There are currently no concrete indicators that immunity from COVID-19 is assured following infection, and if resistance is built up due to the production of antibodies, it is not possible to know if an immune response is strong enough to fight off another case of the respiratory illness.
In a statement on Saturday, White House physician Sean Conley said that Trump was no longer considered a “transmission risk to others,” but did not disclose if the president is now testing negative.
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While Twitter may wipe out such messages and remove profiles entirely if they are spreading fake content surrounding the pandemic, as Trump is a significant political figure, the organization has chosen to keep the tweet accessible in the public interest.
This is not the first time the US president has fallen afoul of Twitter’s rules. In May, a tweet posted by the US president was hidden with a warning due to the “glorification of violence.” Trump had commented on the riots and protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, saying: “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
Trump has previously blasted Twitter for “interfering” with the US 2020 election due to the platform’s fact-checking policies.
Facebook pulled a video from Trump’s Facebook page in August in which the president claimed children were “virtually immune” to COVID-19.
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The 74-year-old US official made his latest COVID-19 claims as he gears up to resume his campaign trail. With roughly three weeks to go before the US election and the final showdown with Democrat rival Joe Biden on November 3, Trump will first appear in Sanford, Florida, before attending planned rallies in Iowa and North Carolina this week.
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