Elon Musk's Twitter Abandons Efforts To Prevent Spread Of COVID-19 Misinformation

Twitter will no longer label or remove posts that contain misinformation related to COVID-19.

What Happened: Just a month after Elon Musk took over Twitter, the platform updated its transparency report page on COVID-19 misinformation. 

"Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy," the update read. 

The information is placed immediately after Twitter's earlier positioning on COVID-19 misinformation that states, "As the global community faces the COVID-19 pandemic together, Twitter is helping people find reliable information, connect with others, and follow what's happening in real time."

Twitter did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments.

See Also: Twitter's 'Big Bang' — Elon Musk's 'General Amnesty' Could Bring 62k Suspended Accounts Back

In addition, the policy is no longer visible on Twitter's Help Center, discarding crucial safeguards the site developed over the years, according to Mashable. 

Why It's Important: The new update is among the several controversial decisions taken by Musk, who is considered a dictator by many former Twitter employees.

In 2020, Twitter said it would start labeling COVID-19-related information for misleading or contested claims, including the ones by former U.S. President Donald Trump. 

Last year, the Twitter Safety team stated that the platform was enacting a five-strike policy to shut down the spread of misinformation related to the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Read Next: Elon Musk Anticipates 1 Billion Monthly Twitter Users As Apple Threatens To Remove The App