Twitter flagged a Sunday tweet from President Donald Trump that said he’s “immune” from COVID-19 as “misleading and potentially harmful.”
“A total and complete sign off from White House Doctors yesterday,” Trump tweeted. “That means I can’t get it (immune), and can’t give it. Very nice to know!!!”
@realDonaldTrump/Screenshot
While the social media giant decided to allow the post to stand as being “in the public’s interest,” they appeared to mute replies and prefaced the tweet with the following message:
This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.
Trump told Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo during a “Sunday Morning Futures” phone interview that he could be “immune for, I don’t know, maybe a long time, maybe a short time. It could be a lifetime. Nobody really knows, but I’m immune.”
Though tests taken last week revealed “detectable levels” of coronavirus antibodies in the president’s system after he recovered from contracting the virus, it is so far scientifically unclear how long immunity lasts. (RELATED: Twitter Flagged Trump Multiple Times Over A Month, But Iran’s Supreme Leader Has Avoided Scrutiny Over So-Called ‘Anti-Semitic,’ Genocidal’ Tweets)
Trump has had several tweets flagged by Twitter of late, including a May tweet about sending the military on “thugs” and California’s system potentially leading to “voter fraud.”
Responding to a request for more information, a Twitter spokesperson said, “We placed a public interest notice on this 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.”
“Misleading information” is defined by the company as “statements or assertions that have been confirmed to be false or misleading by subject-matter experts, such as public health authorities.”