Photo: Reuters/Facebook
Facebook has removed a post by the President of the United States Donald Trump on the grounds that it was fake news and that the post endangered public safety.
In the post, Trump proclaimed that people should not be worried about CoVid-19 and that it was less dangerous than influenza, a belief not held by the scientific community nor evident from the statistics that have emerged since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The post was deleted from Facebook but remained on Twitter behind a covering screen that read:
"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."
In the post, Trump said:
"Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!"
Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2020
It is thought that while influenza is more dangerous than CoVid-19 in the under 30s, for those over the age of 30 CoVid-19 is vastly more dangerous. According to experts, around 40 million US citizens were infected with flu during a particularly bad outbreak in 2019, 50,000 died.
So far, CoVid-19 in 2020 has resulted in around 6 million official cases (though the real number is thought to be somewhat higher) and killed over 200,000. But it must be remembered that this is the number who have fallen ill and died in 2020 while much of the country has been under a monumental lockdown, something that did not exist in 2019.
Trump himself is said to be recovering from CoVid-19 and not showing any symptoms after he was diagnosed and taken to hospital some days ago. He was reportedly given a series of experimental drugs and placed on oxygen twice. Upon returning to the White House, he looked out of breath and significantly unwell.
Many believe that Trump is playing down the dangers of CoVid-19 in order to reopen the economy and improve his chances in the upcoming presidential election.
In response to Facebook and Twitter censoring his post, he tweeted:
"REPEAL SECTION 230!!!"
Section 230 is shorthand for a law that states that social media companies cannot be held responsible for much of the content that is placed, or censored, on their platforms.
COMMENTS