Twitter recently updated its policy on medical misinformation to label some tweets that claim vaccinated individuals can spread COVID-19 to unvaccinated persons as false or misleading.
The company’s medical misinformation policy now includes a sentence characterizing claims that vaccinated persons can spread the virus as false, in contradiction of guidance by health officials.
Twitter will now take action against “false or misleading claims that people who have received the vaccine can spread or shed the virus (or symptoms, or immunity) to unvaccinated people,” the policy reads.
However, according to guidance posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website, vaccinated individuals who are infected with COVID-19 can spread the virus to unvaccinated individuals. (RELATED: ‘Hateful Conduct’: Twitter Locks Rep. Jim Banks Account For Calling Rachel Levine A Man)
“A vaccine breakthrough infection happens when a fully vaccinated person gets infected with COVID-19,” the guidance reads. “People with vaccine breakthrough infections may spread COVID-19 to others.”
Former Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey gestures while speaking at a town hall meeting. (Photo by PRAKASH SINGH/AFP via Getty Images)
It’s unclear when Twitter updated its policy; an archive of the policy’s web page from late-November does not include the sentence about vaccinated individuals spreading the virus.
Accounts that violate this policy will have warning labels on their tweets and will receive warnings, and those who repeatedly violate it may have their accounts suspended.
“When Tweets include misleading information about COVID-19, we may place a label on those Tweets that includes corrective information about that claim,” Twitter’s policy reads. “In cases where we determine there is potential for harm associated with the misleading claim, we will disable the ability for others to Retweet, Quote Tweet, or engage in other ways to prevent the spread of the misleading information. These tweets will accrue 1 strike in accordance with our strike policy stated below.”
Twitter did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Following the publication of this story, Twitter changed its policy early Wednesday to take action against “false or misleading claims that people who have received the vaccine can spread or shed the vaccine (or symptoms, or immunity) to unvaccinated people,” replacing the word “virus” with “vaccine.”
Editor’s note Dec. 15: This story has been updated to reflect the change to Twitter’s policy.
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