Twitter actively removing dangerous 5G claims and COVID-19 misinformation

Early this year Twitter made sure to start directing people towards government officials for coronavirus news, and promised to "amplify authoritative, official content around the globe."

On April 7th, Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey donated $1 billion towards global COVID-19 relief efforts, which equates to around 28 percent of his net worth, according to his own tweet.

Yesterday, the social network added to its blog new goals of broadening its guidance on unverified claims. With particular attention to claims that incite people towards dangerous action, that could lead to destruction or damage of "critical infrastructure, or could lead to widespread panic, social unrest, or large-scale disorder."

An example of a harmful post given is "The National Guard just announced that no more shipments of food will be arriving for two months - run to the grocery store ASAP and buy everything," or more notably, the widespread claims that 5G causes coronavirus, which actually led to vandals in the UK and China destroying 5G cell towers, believing they spread COVID-19. UK Cabinet Minister Michael Gove called it "dangerous nonsense," while the Head of the University of Southampton told a newspaper that "Conspiracy theorists are a public health danger who once read a Facebook page."

YouTube and other social media also announced that content spreading 5G conspiracy theories will be banned, with Facebook announcing the active removal of "false claims which link COVID-19 to 5G technology."

In March, Twitter also started efforts to prioritize the verification of health experts, saying the company is "working with global public health authorities to identify experts." Such individuals get a blue checkmark next to their name in their Twitter profile, signifying that their profile is authentic and trusted.