Twitter is no longer enforcing its COVID-19 misinformation policy, marking the latest move in Elon Musk’s takeover of the company since the $44 billion acquisition was finalized in October.
“Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy,” the company’s CoVID-19 Misinformation page reads.
The updated policy is a harsh pivot from Twitter’s stated efforts to continue promoting accurate information and squashing “harmful misinformation” surrounding COVID-19.
Twitter did not officially announce this policy but users saw a new page Monday night. Despite the updated rule, the COVID-19 misinformation page still displays the company’s initial goals.
“As the global community faces the COVID-19 pandemic together, Twitter is helping people find reliable information, connect with others, and follow what’s happening in real time,” The page is read.
Once you have committed to preventive measures “harming misinformation” About COVID-19 by content moderation in the early stages of the pandemic “broadened [its] definition of harm to address content that goes directly against guidance from authoritative sources of global and local public health information” In late March 2020
The tech company boasts of having instituted these moderation policies for content in 2020. It has also suspended 11230 accounts and taken down more than 97.674 content from the internet worldwide since Sept. 2022.
Musk’s further move away from strict content moderation is unsurprising though, after layoffs and temporarily cut access to content moderation tools The sound was audible Journalists and advocates should be alarmed
