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Twitter restricted President Donald Trump from posting on Wednesday. Similarly, Facebook removed a post from the president’s page that featured the same content.
President Trump was temporarily banned from Twitter. This was after he posted an interview with Fox News. In the video, Trump claimed that children are “almost immune” to coronavirus. However, Twitter said that the tweet “is in violation of the Twitter Rules on Covid-19 misinformation.”
“The account owner will be required to remove the Tweet before they can Tweet again,” said a Twitter spokesperson. Shortly after Twitter’s statement, the account was able to tweet. Twitter confirmed to CNN that the campaign is able to tweet. So, it appears that the campaign complied with the order and removed the video.
Last week, Twitter imposed a similar restriction on the president’s son. Donald Trump Jr. posted a video featuring a doctor making false claims. The doctor said that people “don’t need masks.” At the time, Twitter said that the account’s functionality would be restricted for 12 hours.
In June, Twitter put a warning label on a post from the president that warned protesters would be “met with serious force!” They said the tweet violated a company policy “against abusive behavior, specifically, the presence of a threat of harm against an identifiable group.”
On the bright side, social media companies could help Trump escape the need for finger arthritis relief by forcing him to not post so often.
Related: Trump Accuses Twitter of Election Interference
In a Facebook first, a post by President Donald Trump was removed for spreading misinformation. Facebook spokesperson Liz Bourgeois issued a statement to Fox News:
“This 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.”
Trump told Fox & Friends that schools should remain open in the now removed video.
“My view is that schools should be open,” said Trump. “If you look at children, children are almost… And, I would almost say definitely… But, almost immune from this disease.”
Trump added that children have “much stronger immune systems” and “just don’t have a problem.”
However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevent say that children under the age of 18 account for 7% of reported COVID-19 cases. That means more than 200,000 children have tested positive. Children also account for less than 1% of deaths, and 1% of coronavirus-related hospitalizations.
According to Facebook, this is the first time that they’ve removed a post from the president. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has increasingly faced pressure to put a stop to misinformation that floods the platform.
Related: Facebook Pulls Down Trump Ad Over Nazi Symbol
