(Reuters) – Twitter Inc. said on Wednesday it would begin removing fake or misleading tweets about COVID-19 vaccines that could be harmful, including false claims that vaccines will intentionally harm or control populations or invoke “deliberate conspiracy.” .
The Twitter policy update, announced in a blog post the same week that the first Americans received vaccines against COVID-19 as part of a mass vaccination campaign, also said users could having to withdraw tweets with false claims about the adverse effects of receiving COVID-19 vaccines.
It also prohibits widely discredited misinformation about the adverse effects of receiving COVID-19 vaccines. The new policy will begin to apply next week.
Conspiracy and misinformation theories about the coronavirus and its potential vaccines have proliferated on social media platforms during the pandemic.
Twitter said it can also label or put a warning on tweets with “unconfirmed rumors, disputed claims, as well as incomplete or out-of-context information” about vaccines, starting early next year.
A Twitter spokeswoman said the company would determine with public health partners what misinformation about the vaccine was harmful enough to justify the withdrawal.
Facebook, owned by Alphabet Inc. of YouTube, has announced in recent weeks bans on false claims about the vaccine that go against information from public health experts.
Twitter previously required users to remove tweets with false or misleading information about the nature of the coronavirus, the effectiveness or safety of preventive measures or treatments, official regulations, or the risk of infection or death. The company says it hides these tweets and prevents users from retweeting until they delete them.
Twitter said it would implement the updated policy starting Dec. 21 and would expand those actions in the coming weeks.
Reports by Elizabeth Culliford; Edited by Howard Goller