Twitter Quietly Cuts Out COVID-19 Misinformation Regulations

In 2020, as the pandemic was still in its early stages and people worldwide were struggling to find honest answers to the multitude of questions they had, Twitter stepped up with a new regime of rules that stopped the spread of misinformation on the respiratory disease.
 
According to CNN, between January 2020 and September 2022, the platform suspended over 11,000 accounts for breaking misinformation rules and removed 100,000 articles of content. It even issued labels and warning banners on tweets to help users discern whether what they were viewing was honest.
 
Medical professionals have highlighted its no-nonsense stand on banning the spread of false statements and stated that Twitter is leading by example.
 
However, CNN has recently discovered that the company is quietly rolling back its misinformation policy.
 
“Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy,” states the company in an update to an blog post published in 2021. There are no public announcements beyond this.

The post offers links to new areas on its app and website dedicated to “helping people find reliable information.” This also includes a new COVID-19 tab on the Explore page. However, with the policy not being enforced anymore, it might soon be flooded with unfound truths and naysayers hoping to stop people from accessing the correct information.

The precise methods which the platform will remove are unknown. Nevertheless, this puts the app at risk of spreading false claims about the pandemic and vaccinations.
 
The change has most likely come at the hands of its new boss, Elon Musk, who has taken it upon himself to revamp the network and create it according to his design. This, however, has placed Twitter in a vulnerable spot as it continues to hemorrhage staff—including teams dedicated to fighting fake news—and its advertisers.
 
 
 
[via CNN and Reuters, cover photo 40157910 © Ekinyalgin | Dreamstime.com]