Twitter limits Donald Trump Jr’s account over coronavirus video
Twitter said today it has limited access to Donald Trump Jr’s account for 12 hours, following a tweet he had posted which violated its misinformation policy on coronavirus.
The eldest son of US President Donald Trump posted a video yesterday of doctors talking about the drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus.
In the video, the doctors also discounted the need for face masks amid the pandemic.
It was later removed by Twitter, Facebook and Alphabet’s Youtube for violating misinformation rules, but not before it had racked up millions of views.
President Trump also retweeted posts late yesterday containing a link to the misleading video, which was similarly removed by Twitter.
He then accused Dr Anthony Fauci, a top infectious disease expert, and the rival Democratic party of suppressing the use of the drug hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus.
Fauci, who directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said he has “not been misleading the American public under any circumstances”.
US regulators last month revoked an emergency-use authorisation ruling for hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19, after several studies cast doubt on its effectiveness.
Meanwhile Trump has regularly promoted the drug and said he has used it himself.
“It is beyond the pale for Twitter to silence someone for sharing the views of medical professionals who happen to dissent with their anti-hydroxychloroquine narrative,” said Andy Surabian, a spokesman for Donald Trump Jr.
A Twitter spokesman told Reuters that it would limit some account functionality for 12 hours, but had not suspended Trump Jr’s account entirely.