Twitter ends enforcement of Covid misinformation policy

Twitter ended its policy against Covid-19 misinformation, raising concerns that the change could have serious consequences if it discourages vaccination and other efforts to combat the still-spreading virus.

The change in Twitter's policy mentioned that the withdrawal was effective from 23 November onwards.

The change in the social media giant's policy comes after Elon Musk took over the company in October through a $44 bn dollar deal.

The Covid-19 misleading information policy was introduced in 2020 to combat the misinformation shared on the platform leading to Covid-19 denial as well as boycotting vaccination. More than 11,000 accounts were suspended for violating the rules, and nearly 100,000 pieces of content were removed from the platform, according to Twitter's latest numbers.

Also watch: Suicide blast targeting police truck kills 3, injures over 20 in Pakistan

The decision to no longer remove false claims about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines on the platform follows Musk's announcement of "amnesty" to Twitter handles which were removed from the platform. Twitter last week announced that it will restore nearly all banned handles following an online poll by Musk.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, platforms like Twitter and Facebook have struggled to respond to a torrent of misinformation about the virus, its origins, and the response to it.

(With PTI inputs)