Twitter Inc. has clamped down on the spread of coronavirus misinformation surfacing on its platform, which has lately led to the removal of posts from prominent figures.

On Friday, the company removed a tweet from President Donald Trump’s personal attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The tweet in question supported the use of the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, as a treatment for the virus.

Although the drug has shown potential signs it may treat coronavirus, Giuliani quoted someone who said it was “100%” effective, which Twitter quite rightly deemed misinformation. Twitter’s latest policies include taking down anything in relation to coronavirus cures that hasn’t been backed up by the medical community.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonar, had two videos removed from Twitter on Sunday. The first was in relation to his endorsement of hydroxychloroquine to fight the virus and the second was his saying social distancing in the country had to be stopped. In one video, the president said that if Brazilians didn’t get back to work, the country would “turn into Venezuela.”

According to reports, this is the first time Twitter has removed a post from Bolsonaro. The two videos that the president posted were still on Facebook and Instagram until Monday. Facebook said that it will not allow posts to appear on its platforms that can cause harm to the community.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has also seen some of his content removed from social media. Last week he tweeted that the country had a “antidote” that could cure the virus, after which that post was removed. Maduro later complained that he had been censored by the social media platform.

Over in the U.K., the government has said it’s working with social media platforms to prevent the spread of misinformation relating to the virus. Its present campaign, “Don’t Feed the Beast,” urges the British public to be careful about what they share and post on social media, since it’s finding daily cases of misinformation posted on various networks.

“The information contagion around Covid-19 is so dangerous, because there is so much that people don’t know and so much happening all the time, that it is very easy for false rumors to take hold and spread,” Conservative MP Damian Collins told the BBC.

Photo: Nik Andr/Flickr