Donald Trump has hardly covered himself in glory in his latest public responses to the pandemic. His calamitous interview with Australian Journalist Jonathan Swan will probably enter the presidential history books for all the wrong reasons.
Nevertheless, the news that Facebook has removed a video of the President’s latest appearance on Fox News on the grounds that it spreads ‘misinformation’ about Covid-19 should raise alarm bells in the ears of anyone who cares about free speech. Twitter has similarly frozen a Trump campaign account until the video is removed.
Facebook has taken issue with Trump’s comment that children ‘are almost immune’ from coronavirus. They have labelled this remark as ‘harmful misinformation’ and therefore taken it upon themselves to ensure that nobody can view the video on their platform.
This heavy handed response is a step up from the platform’s previous policy, announced in May, which involved labelling potentially misleading content with a ‘warning’.
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