Twitter has restricted Donald Trump Jr.’s account after he shared a viral video of Monday’s Capitol Hill press conference with America’s Frontline Doctors, asserting that he violated the policy “on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.”
Republican strategist and Trump Jr. spokesman Andrew Surabian shared a screenshot showing the update Trump Jr. received on his Twitter account:
BREAKING: @Twitter & @jack have suspended @DonaldJTrumpJr for posting a viral video of medical doctors talking about Hydroxychloroquine.
Big Tech is the biggest threat to free expression in America today & they're continuing to engage in open election interference – full stop. pic.twitter.com/7dJbauq43O
— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) July 28, 2020
When the features "temporarily limited" are the abilities to tweet and retweet, what would you call that?
Anyone with a functioning brain would call it a suspension, despite the BS word games @Twitter is playing here. https://t.co/kt5S4Wvt3A
— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) July 28, 2020
“Twitter suspending Don. Jr. for sharing a viral video of medical professionals discussing their views on Hydroxychloroquine is further proof that Big Tech is intent on killing free expression online and is another instance of them committing election interference and to stifle Republican voices,” Surabian said in a statement.
He continued:
While there is indeed much disagreement in the medical community about the efficacy of Hydroxychloroquine in treating coronavirus, there have been studies reported on by “mainstream” outlets like CNN, suggesting that it may in fact be an effective treatment. Those pretending otherwise are lying for political reasons.
it is beyond the pale for Twitter to silence someone for sharing the views of medical professionals who happen to dissent with their anti-Hydroxychloroquine narrative.
Twitter determined that Trump Jr. violated its rules by sharing a video of the viral event, which organizers said was designed to address the “massive disinformation campaign” about the Chinese coronavirus.
“We understand that during times of crisis and instability it is difficult to know what to do to keep yourself and your loved ones safe,” Twitter’s explanation reads.
“Under this policy, we require the removal of content that may pose a risk to people’s health, including content that goes directly against the guidance from authoritative sources of global and local public health information,” it added, referring to World Health Organization (W.H.O.) links.
Facebook, as well as YouTube, which is owned by Google, removed Breitbart News’s video of Monday’s press conference, held by America’s Frontline Doctors and organized and sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots. It was the top-performing Facebook post in the world as of Monday afternoon.
As Breitbart News reported:
The video accumulated over 17 million views during the eight hours it was hosted on Facebook, with over 185,000 concurrent viewers.
…
The event, hosted by the organization America’s Frontline Doctors, a group founded by Dr. Simone Gold, a board-certified physician and attorney, and made up of medical doctors, came together to address what the group calls a “massive disinformation campaign” about the coronavirus. Norman also spoke at the event.
“If Americans continue to let so-called experts and media personalities make their decisions, the great American experiment of a Constitutional Republic with Representative Democracy, will cease,” reads the event’s information page.
Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesperson, told Breitbart News that the video was removed “for sharing false information about cures and treatments for COVID-19,” However, Stone did not offer specifics.
Dr. James Todaro, an ophthalmology specialist, addressed the reality of censorship on big tech platforms, particularly when it comes to discussions over hydroxychloroquine, on Monday.
“I would say Facebook and YouTube have taken the most draconian measures to silence and censorship people, and this is coming from the CEO of YouTube as well as Mark Zuckerburg saying anything that goes against what the World Health Organization has said is subject to censorship,” he said, noting that the W.H.O. has made a “number of mistakes during this pandemic”:
“They have not been perfect by any means,” he continued, identifying Twitter as one of the “freest” platforms to “share dialogue, intelligent discussion regarding this information.” However, he acknowledged that Twitter, too, has its “flaws and faults.”
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