Elon Musk’s Twitter quietly rolls back COVID misinformation policy

[Elderberry]

American Military News by Jessica Schladebeck - New York Daily News  December 11, 2022

Twitter will no longer flag tweets containing misinformation about COVID-19 nor take action against the accounts that post them; the reversal of a longstanding policy implemented at the peak of the pandemic and the the latest major shift under new owner Elon Musk.

The social media platform did not announce the change in rules, but some users noticed a note on Monday had been added to the Twitter’s page outlining its policy regarding coronavirus.

“Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy,” it read.

The initiative was first implemented in 2020 in a bid to curb misinformation about the virus, its spread and the science surrounding vaccinations. It involved deleting tweets with “demonstrably false or potentially misleading content” as well as the banning of accounts that repeatedly posted such content.

Sine January 2020, the company has suspended more than 11,000 accounts and removed nearly 100,000 posts in connection with the policy, according to data shared by Twitter.

More: https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/12/elon-musks-twitter-quietly-rolls-back-covid-misinformation-policy/

[The_Reader_David]

I don't have a problem with flagging (as in attaching a note criticizing it, not censoring outright) actual misinformation about COVID or other public health matters.  The problem was that Twitter flagged as misinformation, and sometimes censored, even absolutely sound scientific critiques of the standard party line on COVID. 

[Smokin Joe]

I don't have a problem with flagging (as in attaching a note criticizing it, not censoring outright) actual misinformation about COVID or other public health matters.  The problem was that Twitter flagged as misinformation, and sometimes censored, even absolutely sound scientific critiques of the standard party line on COVID.

I had a similar issue with Facebook, which flagged a post that consisted of only the links to two peer reviewed journal articles that were in the NIH library (links led there). It seemed anything about COVID was summarily labeled as misinformation.

[mountaineer]

Twitter still seems to protect the lgbqtxyz agenda. I just got an indefinite suspension for saying no 3 year old knows he wants his genitals removed, and if he says he does, that child needs mental health treatment.

[Smokin Joe]

Twitter still seems to protect the lgbqtxyz agenda. I just got an indefinite suspension for saying no 3 year old knows he wants his genitals removed, and if he says he does, that child needs mental health treatment.

Which shows that all the agenda driven censorship has not been removed from the staff.

[mountaineer]

Which shows that all the agenda driven censorship has not been removed from the staff.

Clearly.  The odd thing is that I used no offensive language,  no slang, no vulgarity  - just stated it exactly the way I did above. Off with her head!

[catfish1957]

As a financial junkie, I find it utterly fascinating that Musk has so much money that he could sink this much change into an investment that is on auto-implosion for past sins.

Wonder how much reserve cash he has earmarked for future litigation? 

Sink it to Chapter 11, take the write off, and restart it?

Rebuild as a sterling standard of communication, after the rest have been smeared as credible?

The combinations and permutations are huge.  Bring popcorn....lots of popcorn.

[Smokin Joe]

Clearly.  The odd thing is that I used no offensive language,  no slang, no vulgarity  - just stated it exactly the way I did above. Off with her head!

It looks like the emphasis has been on removing the most high profile censors, but the trickle down hasn't reached all the nooks and crannies of the organization yet.

This may not have reached Elon's radar yet, and admittedly. may be the sort of thing that could be thrown back in his face by that whole 'community'. Whatever the approach, it has to be handled quietly and carefully, or he will be facing backlash that could hit his entire empire once the alphabet media got a hold of it. They (Leftists) are already having tantrums over his firing of censors on other topics, but the whole "gay unfriendly" thing could be milked hard in the press.

[catfish1957]

Clearly.  The odd thing is that I used no offensive language,  no slang, no vulgarity  - just stated it exactly the way I did above. Off with her head!

A few weeks back, hoping that a post Musk Twitter would be for conservative friendly and re-instate, I appealed, but  still got this stock boiler plate bulls shit response.  Which was after I was banned after a flame war with an Antifa member, whose rhetoric was worse than mine.   Not everything has been fixed over there yet......

Hello,

Your account has been suspended and will not be restored because it was found to be violating Twitter's Terms of Service, specifically the Twitter Rules against hateful conduct.

It is against our rules to promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.

Additionally, if we determine that the primary purpose of an account is to incite harm towards others on the basis of these categories, that account may be suspended without prior warning.

You can learn more about our policy against hateful conduct here:

My posts though were insulting, did not meet any of the above.

[mountaineer]

I was responding to a tweet about a woman whose 2-year-old boy announced he was sad because he was a boy. Now he's 3, and she's all gung-ho for his transition. My response (verbatim) was: No 3-year-old knows he wants to have his genitals eliminated. Shame on these "parents."
 "Transgender people have alarmingly high rates of depression, substance abuse and suicide," the story says - because it's a mental disorder. Such children need mental health treatment.

Twitter's response:

Your account has been locked for violating the Twitter Rules.
Specifically for:
Violating our rules against hateful conduct.
You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.
Please note that repeated violations may lead to a permanent suspension of your account. Proceed to Twitter now to fix the issue with your account.

So that was hateful conduct and the harassment of other people. Hey, Elon - there's a lot more housecleaning yet to be done!