- Facebook took down a post by President Donald Trump for violating its policies against misinformation, the company confirmed.
- Trump posted a video of his interview with Fox News where he falsely claimed that children are “almost immune” from COVID-19, which CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan captured before it was removed from Facebook.
- “This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation,” a Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider.
- Facebook said this is the first time it has completely taken down a post by Trump for pushing coronavirus misinformation, according to The New York Times’ reporter Davey Alba.
For the first time, Facebook has completely removed a post by President Donald Trump for violating its policies against COVID-19 misinformation.
Trump posted a video Wednesday of his interview with Fox News, which CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan captured in a screenshot before it was removed from the platform, where he falsely claimed that children are “almost immune” from the disease.
“They have much stronger immunes system than [adults],” Trump said in the video, which he also tweeted.
“This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation,” a Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider.
A growing body of research suggests that children can transmit COVID-19 like anyone else, though researchers believe their infection rates are often underreported because they are frequently asymptomatic and have been largely excluded from clinical trials.
Facebook has previously applied fact-check labels to Trump’s misleading posts about mail-in voting and taken down his campaign ads containing Nazi symbols. But this marks the first time the company has removed a post for violating its policies against coronavirus misinformation, according to The New York Times’ reporter Davey Alba.
Facebook has faced growing pressure in recent months to take stronger stances against misinformation and hate speech on its platform. CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the company’s decision not to take down controversial posts by Trump earlier this year suggesting violence against demonstrators in Minnesota protesting the death of George Floyd.
