Social media firm Twitter has placed a warning label on a tweet by US President Donald Trump claiming immunity to COVID-19.
After he was cleared by his physician to resume public activities, President Trump wrote in a tweet that he has immunity to COVID-19, which prompted Twitter to add a warning label to his post.
Trump's tweet and Twitter's warning label
On Sunday, Trump wrote: "A total and complete sign off from White House Doctors yesterday. That means I can't get it (immune), and can't give it. Very nice to know!!!"
Additionally, in an interview on Fox News, he also claimed immunity and stated that he believes he will be immune for "maybe a long time, maybe a short time, could be a lifetime."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is no evidence that people develop immunity to coronavirus if they have been infected once and the agency has specifically warned people not to assume they are immune.
Twitter's warning label states that the tweet "violated the Twitter Rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to Covid-19."
A Twitter spokesperson said: "We placed a public interest notice on [President Trump's] Tweet for violating our Covid-19 Misleading Information Policy by making misleading health claims about Covid-19."
"As is standard with this public interest notice, engagements with the Tweet will be significantly limited," the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, Trump also posted the same claim on his Facebook account but the social media giant is yet to add a warning label despite the post violating its policies. It has been up for several hours and was shared by thousands of people.
Twitter's past warning labels on Trump tweets
During the height of the Black Lives Matter protests in May, Twitter hid one of the tweets by US President Donald Trump from his profile for violating rules about glorifying violence and replaced it with a warning.
The warning reads: "Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible."
The president tweeted: "I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right….."
He followed this with the post hidden by Twitter, which reads: "….These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"
In August, Twitter hid another tweet by Trump about postal voting for containing "misleading claims".
Twitter argued that claims by President Trump on Sunday that postal voting could encourage fraud and puts users at risk of contracting coronavirus were misleading and could "dissuade voters" ahead of the November election.
Users can still view the tweet behind a disclaimer that says it breaks rules around "civic and election integrity". However, the post cannot be liked, replied to or retweeted.
In the said tweet, the president wrote: "So now the Democrats are using mail drop boxes, which are a voter-security disaster. Among other things, they make it possible for a person to vote multiple times."
"Also, who controls them? Are they placed in Republican or Democrat areas? They are not Covid sanitized. A big fraud!" Trump added.
