Jack Dorsey, chief executive officer of Twitter Inc. and Square Inc., speaks during an Empowering Entrepreneurs events at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Tuesday, April 2, 2019.
Cole Burston | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Twitter on Wednesday announced that, starting next week, it will moderate and in some cases remove harmful misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines, which began to be administered in the U.S. this week.
Specifically, Twitter said it will take action on false claims that suggest immunizations and vaccines are used to control populations, false claims that have been widely debunked about the adverse impacts of the vaccines, and false claims that Covid-19 is not real and therefore vaccinations are unnecessary. The company added that it will take action on statements about the vaccines that invoke deliberate conspiracy.
The company also said that in 2021 it may place labels or warnings on tweets that push unsubstantiated rumors, disputed claims and out-of-context information about vaccines. Those labels will direct Twitter users to authoritative public health information, the company said.
This follows Facebook, which earlier this month announced that it would start removing misinformation about the coronavirus vaccines as countries around the world start rolling them out.
