Twitter Suspends DNC’s Account for Retweeting Trump Clip Suggesting Kids Are ‘Almost Immune’ to COVID

by Chris White

 

Twitter partially suspended the Democratic National Committee’s account Thursday for sharing a tweet from President Donald Trump that contains a video of the president suggesting children are “almost immune” to coronavirus.

The company made the move after the DNC tweeted a clip of Trump’s Wednesday appearance on Fox News in which the president made the claim relating to children and the pandemic, CNN reported. The account intended to retweet the post with the intention of criticizing the president for spreading misinformation, but Twitter’s moderators flagged the post instead.

According to CNN, the DNC’s tweet contained a caption that read: “WATCH: Trump says schools should full reopen, even though he doesn’t have a plan to ensure it is done safely, because the coronavirus ‘will go away like thing go away’ and children are ‘almost immune.’”

“If you look at children, children are almost — and I would almost say definitely — but almost immune from this disease,” Trump said during the Fox interview.

Twitter partially suspended Trump’s campaign Twitter account Wednesday for sharing the tweet as well. Facebook removed a post Wednesday that contained the video, too, marking the first time the social media platform has nixed a Trump post over coronavirus misinformation, The Washington Post reported.

“Accounts that shared the identical video may also be required to delete their Tweets as it’s the video itself that violates our COVID misinformation policy,” a Twitter representative said in a statement to CNN Thursday.

Twitter should focus on Trump’s penchant for spreading misinformation, according to Daniel Wessel, DNC deputy war room director.

“While Donald Trump continues to spread misinformation through his social media channels, the DNC War Room and others were suspended on Twitter for holding him accountable for his dangerous lies,” Wessel told CNN. “If Twitter is serious about addressing the problem of misinformation on their platform, then they should focus on the source of that problem.”

The DNC had to remove the tweet before being allowed to post again, CNN reported.

Medical experts have determined children are still capable of spreading the virus, though some studies indicate they exhibit milder symptoms and are less likely to contract the virus, the Daily Caller reported in July.

Researchers at the New South Wales’ National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance in Australia published a study of staff and students at five primary schools and 10 high schools in April showing only two people of 863 people contracted COVID-19.

Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield pushed for children to go back to school in July, telling the Hill in an interview that COVID-19 has a “very limited effect on kids.”

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Chris White is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.

 

 

 

 

 

 


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