San Francisco: Twitter has refused to remove controversial videos posted by US President Donald Trump that suggest infecting disinfectant and use ultraviolet or “very powerful” light inside the body to treat COVID-19.
Twitter, however, has blocked hashtag trends around injecting disinfectant.
“If Tweets or Trends about #COVID19 include a call to action that could potentially cause someone harm, they will be removed,” tweeted Twitter communications.
“We will not require every Tweet that contains incomplete or disputed information about #COVID19 to be removed. As an open service, this is not scalable and limits active discussion,” the micro-blogging platform added.
Health experts globally have blasted such ideas, saying there is “absolutely no merit” to Trump’s suggestion of injecting cleaning agents in the body or using ultraviolet lights as a coronavirus treatment.
Twitter said that context matters.
“Tweets that are clearly satirical in nature, or that discuss or report on timely issues about #COVID19 without calls to action generally do not break our rules,” the company posted.
“More people than ever are coming to Twitter to discuss #COVID19. We’re focused on helping them find credible information and requiring Tweets that could cause harm to be removed”.
Trump, who has been accused of being scientifically challenged, has tried to play scientist but ended up with a serious flub when he made a science fiction leap to sending light waves inside the body to destroy the COVID-19 virus during a White House briefing.
After a scientist made a presentation at the daily Coronavirus Task Force briefing showing that COVID-19 virus is killed by sunlight in two minutes, Trump suggested bringing powerful light inside the body.
He compounded it further by suggesting injecting cleansers like bleach and isopropyl alcohol because Bill Bryan, the head of Homeland Security Department’s Technology Directorate said that bleach killed the virus in five minutes and alcohol in 30 seconds.
Trump wondered if the cleanser “gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs”.
The scientists, Bryan and the task force coordinator Deborah Birx, appeared embarrassed by Trump’s far-out ideas when he looked to them for affirmation.
