Twitter has frequently been criticized for acting slowly, if at all, to curb the spread of misinformation. But with an unprecedented pandemic sweeping the U.S., the social media platform is taking unprecedented steps to rein things in, particularly when it comes to world leaders and the top rung of right-wing crankery. Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro had two of his tweets taken down on Sunday after he touted hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to prevent and treat malaria, as a miracle cure for COVID-19. One tweet featured a clip of Bolsonaro walking through BrasĂlia while arguing that the drug, which is being tested on some COVID-19 patients but is still unproven, would allow the country to return to work, lest its stalled economy result in Brazil turning “into Venezuela.” Last week Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro had a snake oil tweet of his own deleted after he claimed to have discovered a “natural brew” cure Ă la Alex Jones.
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Source: Conservative Voices Are Pumping Out Coronavirus Misinformation on Twitter | Vanity Fair