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Twitter has removed over 1,000 tweets since its recent ban on “denial of expert guidance” about coronavirus

A tweet from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was censored under these rules.

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It has been two weeks since Twitter introduced its controversial coronavirus rules that prohibit the “denial of expert guidance” on the virus and some coronavirus jokes.

And Twitter is reporting that it has already removed 1,100 tweets that it deemed to be “harmful and potentially harmful” since these rules were rolled out – an average of 550 tweets per week.

https://twitter.com/twittersafety/status/1245415840440143873

Some of the tweets that were removed during this period include tweets from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Fox News host Laura Ingraham, and President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Twitter removed several tweets from President Jair Bolsonaro including a tweet where he encouraged the country to end coronavirus lockdowns (Twitter - @ggreenwald and @jairbolsonaro)
Twitter removed several tweets from President Jair Bolsonaro including a tweet where he encouraged the country to end coronavirus lockdowns (Twitter – @ggreenwald and @jairbolsonaro)
Twitter removed this tweet from Laura Ingraham where she wrote hydroxychloroquine had “very promising results” (Twitter - @IngrahamAngle)
Twitter removed this tweet from Laura Ingraham where she wrote hydroxychloroquine had “very promising results” (Twitter – @IngrahamAngle)
Twitter removed this tweet from Rudy Giuliani where he quoted conservative activist Charlie Kirk discussing hydroxychloroquine as a potential coronavirus treatment (Twitter - @RudyGiuliani)
Twitter removed this tweet from Rudy Giuliani where he quoted conservative activist Charlie Kirk discussing hydroxychloroquine as a potential coronavirus treatment (Twitter – @RudyGiuliani)

Twitter added that its automated systems have also “challenged more than 1.5 million accounts which were targeting manipulative discussions around COVID-19” since March 18.

While Twitter is removing tweets that oppose or question “expert guidance” on the coronavirus, it isn’t taking any action against propaganda from Chinese officials and has allowed several tweets that attempt to blame the US for the coronavirus to remain on its platform.

Twitter has taken no action against this tweet from Chinese government official Lijian Zhao which claims “it might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan” (Twitter - @zlj517)
Twitter has taken no action against this tweet from Chinese government official Lijian Zhao which claims “it might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan” (Twitter – @zlj517)

And according to a recent report, tens of thousands of Chinese propaganda accounts are running wild on the platform.

In addition to removing more than 500 tweets each week, Twitter is also blocking links to some coronavirus articles.

Beyond tightly controlling the coronavirus narrative on its platform, Twitter has also warned users that it’s now using automated tools to “proactively identify rule-breaking content before it’s reported.”

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Twitter has previously told users that using these automated systems “might result in some mistakes.”

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