Twitter takes down coronavirus tweets from John McAfee, David Clarke, and others

[Celerity]

The platform had pledged ‘to protect the public conversation around Covid-19’

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/16/21181617/twitter-coronavirus-misinformation-tweets-removed-accounts-covid19

Twitter has removed several tweets by prominent accounts that made misleading claims about the novel coronavirus pandemic, as the company says it’s following a “zero-tolerance approach to platform manipulation and any other attempts to abuse our service at this critical juncture.”

A Twitter spokesperson says the platform removed three posts by David Clarke, who tweets under the handle @SheriffClarke, because the tweets violated its policy against encouraging self-harm. All three of the tweets in question referred to the pandemic in some way, as noted by Jared Holt at watchdog site Right Wing Watch.

In one, Clarke linked to an article about bars and restaurants being ordered to close because of the novel coronavirus and added “Time to RISE UP and push back. Bars and restaurants should defy the order. Let people decide if they want to go out.” In another, he encouraged people to “get back to reasonableness” and “stop buying toilet paper,” and a third removed tweet suggested people “take to the streets.”

A March 4th blog post outlines Twitter’s policies “to protect the public conversation around Covid-19,” which includes a search prompt that delivers information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other government health organizations and a ban on ads that “opportunistically use the COVID-19 outbreak to target inappropriate ads.”

snip

David Clarke



John McAfee (yes, the anti computer virus bloke)