Facebook, Citing Virus Misinformation, Deletes Trump Post

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The thumbs up Like logo is shown on a sign at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Tuesday, April 14, 2020. Facebook has deleted a post by President Donald Trump for the first time, saying it violated its policy against spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. The post in question featured a link to a Fox News video in which Trump says children are “virtually immune” to the virus. Facebook said Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020 that the “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.” (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

NEW YORK (AP) – Facebook has deleted a post by President Donald Trump for violating its policy against spreading misinformation about the coronavirus.

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The post in question featured a link to a Fox News video in which Trump says children are “virtually immune” to the virus.

Facebook said Wednesday that the “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 few hours later, Twitter temporarily blocked the Trump campaign from tweeting from its account, until it removed a post with the same video. Trump’s account retweeted the video. The company said in a statement late Wednesday that the tweet violated its rules against COVID misinformation. When a tweet breaks its rules, Twitter asks users to remove the tweet in questions and bans them from posting anything else until they do.

Twitter has generally been quicker than Facebook in recent months to label posts from the president that violate its policies against misinformation and abuse.

This is not the first time that Facebook has removed a post from Trump, Facebook said, but it’s the first time it has done so because it was spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. The company has also labeled his posts.

Several studies suggest, but don’t prove, that children are less likely to become infected than adults and more likely to have only mild symptoms. But this is not the same as being “virtually immune” to the virus.

A CDC study involving 2,500 children published in April found that about 1 in 5 infected children were hospitalized versus 1 in 3 adults; three children died. The study lacks complete data on all the cases, but it also suggests that many infected children have no symptoms, which could allow them to spread the virus to others.


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Educated Archy
Educated Archy
3 years ago

Stuffier in Europe showed , kids went Back to school and no significant virus spread occurred.
During the height out break the ymca was opened and no significant spread occurred due to it .
In Israel kids younger than ten did not spread it as much. That is the only country where there are mixed reports and data . It’s an outlier
More importantly in our own community upwards of a million
Kids are in day camps across the greater Nyc region with no masks or social distancing. And everyone on top of each other . Yet I have not seen any large outbreaks aside for two girls at camp Bnos day camp who did not spread it further .

Is the risk at 0%? No . But it’s so low

Here is what I have seen , kids playing in the streets while cars whiz by , kids playing in dangerous garbage construction zones , childhood and early education out the window , mental health etc … And non Jewish teens rioting and looting out of bordorm.

Schools reopening are worth this very tiny elevated risk . The consequences are far worse

Steve
Steve
3 years ago

Archy is the man!

D. Fault
D. Fault
3 years ago

Obviously an anti_Trump move. Saying children are “virtually immune” may be an exaggeration, but it’s not off so greatly as to be censored as false information.
If the entire population were as affected by covid-19 to the extent that children are, there would be no lock down and no masks; it would less than a mild flu.

AmericanYid
AmericanYid
3 years ago

Over 350,000 children have been infected or tested positive to the deadly virus and can spread it to people like UnEducated Archie. Open up the schools and see what happens. Look what opening up the economy did. 160,000 DEAD.