Twitter locks The Federalists account over coronavirus chickenpox parties tweet – The Verge

On Wednesday, Twitter briefly locked conservative site The Federalists account for suggesting people deliberately expose themselves to the novel coronavirus. The Federalist promoted the medically unsound idea of medical chickenpox parties to infect young, healthy people with the virus under controlled quarantine.

The tweet was removed for violating the social media platforms policies, and a Twitter spokesperson tells The Verge that the account was temporarily locked for violating the Twitter Rules regarding COVID-19.

Twitter bans coronavirus-related content that goes directly against guidance from authoritative sources of global and local public health information. That includes tweets promoting ineffective or counterproductive treatments, denying the effectiveness of measures like social distancing, or contradicting known public health facts.

The Federalist was tweeting an article where an Oregon physician urged readers to seriously consider a somewhat unconventional approach to the pandemic. But unconventional is a bit of a euphemism. The hospital system is overloaded even without deliberate infections, and unlike with chickenpox, we dont know how long COVID-19 immunity lasts. In other words, hosting a coronavirus chickenpox party is a very bad idea.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a global lockdown and thousands of deaths, as well as economic chaos. America has the third-highest number of confirmed cases, after China and Italy. Congress is attempting to mitigate the economic harm with a stimulus package.

President Donald Trump has chronically minimized the risk of coronavirus infection and made falsely rosy claims about new treatments and vaccines, recently alarming experts by suggesting social distancing restrictions end by Easter Sunday. Other Republicans have either downplayed the threat or argued that some Americans should accept a heightened risk of death to let the country leave lockdown. Social media platforms have to decide when these statements could have a negative effect on the larger pandemic response, sometimes drawing ire in the process.

Earlier this week, blogging platform Medium removed an article from technologist and former Mitt Romney campaign team member Aaron Ginn. Ginn claimed that the COVID-19 response was being driven by hysteria or a mob-like fear. A Medium spokesperson told The Verge that Ginns essay violated rules against controversial, suspect, and extreme content, which cover distorted or pseudoscientific arguments that could have serious social repercussions.

Every day, we are removing coronavirus-related posts that violate our rules, the spokesperson said.

Twitter also slapped a warning on the article when it was later reposted elsewhere, telling readers who clicked the link that it was potentially harmful or associated with a violation of Twitters Terms of Service.

Ginns Medium article didnt fit the stereotype of social media misinformation posts, which often incorporate alarmist exaggerations, blatantly made-up facts, or miracle cure scams. But critics like University of Washington biology professor Carl Bergstrom cited logical leaps that painted a misleading yet widely cited portrait of the pandemic. The Wall Street Journals editorial board, however, slammed Mediums decision and urged platforms not to require conformity with the judgment of expert institutions, even as many of those institutions themselves woefully misjudged the situation months or weeks ago.

Facebook also recently published guidance for COVID-19 hoaxes and misinformation, drawing a line around content that could contribute to imminent physical harm. That includes statements like saying that social distancing doesnt work something Facebook says it recently started taking down. It doesnt include more abstract claims like conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus, which arent considered immediately harmful, but can be de-ranked and flagged with a warning label, like other false information on the platform.

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Twitter locks The Federalists account over coronavirus chickenpox parties tweet - The Verge