Facebook deletes a post by President Trump, and Twitter hides it

Facebook deleted a post by US President Donald Trump, claiming that the Corona virus, which causes Covid 19, was “less deadly” than the influenza virus.

Trump is currently in the White House three days after he received treatment in hospital after testing positive for the Coronavirus.

The president wrote on Facebook that the United States “has learned to live with the” flu season “just as we are learning to live with Covid. –19, which was much less lethal to most of the population !!! ”

And Twitter had hidden the same tweet for Trump before and put it in place with a warning against “spreading misleading and possibly harmful information.”

Users had to read the warning message first and then click on it to access and read the Tweet.

Andy Stone, director of policy communications at Facebook, commented: “We are removing incorrect information about the seriousness of Corona, and we have removed this post now.”

The exact death rate from infection with the Coronavirus is not known, but it is believed to be much higher, about 10 times or more, than most flu strains, according to estimates by Johns Hopkins University.

Trump responded to the move against him by posting a tweet saying: “Cancel Section 230 !!!”, referring to a law stating that social networks are not responsible for the content that their users post.

But it does allow companies to take action to block content, including removing content they deem offensive, harmful, or violent.

If the law is repealed, social media companies will face legal action over modifications and changes to user content.

Facebook is moving again

This is the second time Facebook has deleted a post by the president. Twitter often intervenes to delete Trump’s tweets or place a warning on them.

The two social media companies pledged to combat misinformation about COVID-19, which could pose a threat to people’s lives.

But Trump has a different opinion of what he sees as editorial directing of content by companies.

Trump took previous action against Twitter in May, and signed an executive order to revoke Section 230, shortly after Twitter placed a warning flag on its posts.

The proposal to delete Section 230 attracted support from various parties, albeit for various reasons.

Republicans see a bias or even outright censorship of conservative views on the Internet and want to stop this, while Democrats say social networks are more interested in spreading disinformation.

Last week, the US Senate Commerce Committee issued subpoenas for the heads of Facebook, Twitter and Google to conduct further investigations.

Marian Spring analysis

Pressure mounted on Facebook and Twitter to do more to address misinformation about the coronavirus epidemic as well as the US elections. For this reason, their decisive action on Trump’s latest post promoting false claims about the seriousness of the Coronavirus would be welcome.

However, Trump’s comments about the flu, and the one she said yesterday, “Don’t be afraid of Covid 19,” have already started feeding conspiracy theories online.

The posts came in pro-Trump and anti-face masks Facebook groups with comments saying the pandemic was neither real nor very dangerous. They also used Trump’s post to encourage others not to follow health guidelines such as wearing a mask or social distancing.

Early in the pandemic, the BBC conducted an investigation into the human cost of disinformation, which included people who had become seriously ill due to social media posts that led them to doubt the truth or severity of the epidemic and ignore advice.

The hope is that this measure of social media can reduce the risk of this happening, but those who may have already been exposed to this disinformation may be affected.

All eyes will be directed to social networking sites to see if they continue this approach in dealing with misinformation, whether about the Corona virus or in politics or otherwise, especially from the candidates for the US presidential elections as polling day approaches.