Twitter will no longer enforce policy on COVID misinformation

Twitter have confirmed that it will no longer enforce its policy against COVID-19 misinformation, which was first put in place in May 2020.

The platform previously flagged tweets about the COVID-19 pandemic and fact-checked posts that were deemed to be incomplete, misleading or disputed.

Several users saw the change on Monday night and noted that a single-sentence update had been made to Twitter’s online rules: “Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy.”

This change comes after Elon Musk purchased the company and promised to create a platform which would embrace the freedom of speech.

However, many users – including politicians and health experts – have spoken out against the policy changes.

Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding tweeted: “Bad news—it seems @Twitter just updated its misleading info policy that #COVID19 misinformation will no longer be enforced. The 11k accounts that were suspended under the old policy will soon be restored. Stay folks—do NOT cede the town square to them!”

Tom Tarantino, who was previously in charge of Twitter’s COVID-19 Response Task Force, said that layoffs have impacted this decision.

“Misinformation policies are very labor intensive to enforce as it typically requires human review to read context,” he said. “As many — or all — of the team that is enforcing that policy is no longer there, I imagine that this is more about practicality than philosophy.”

Others have celebrated the policy update, with Dr. Simone Gold tweeting: “This policy was used to silence people across the world who questioned the media narrative surrounding the virus and treatment options. A win for free speech and medical freedom!”