Facebook on claims that COVID-19 was man-made: “We will no longer remove the claim”
Facebook said that it’s no longer removing from its platforms claims that a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was man-made.
A Facebook spokesperson said in a statement to CNN Business late Wednesday that they’ll “no longer remove the claim that Covid-19 is man-made from our apps” in light of ongoing investigations into the origin of the coronavirus disease and in consultation with public health experts.
The spokesperson added that they’re continuing to work with health experts in order to keep pace with the evolving nature of the coronavirus pandemic and to regularly update their policies as new facts and trends emerged.
Facebook’s announcement came shortly after United States President Joe Biden announced that he had directed the US intelligence community to redouble its efforts into the origin of the coronavirus disease.
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On Wednesday, President Biden announced that he had given the US officials 90 days to investigate the origins of the coronavirus disease.
“As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China. I have also asked that this effort include work by our National Labs and other agencies of our government to augment the Intelligence Community’s efforts. And I have asked the Intelligence Community to keep Congress fully apprised of its work,” President Biden said in a statement.
President Biden’s announcement came after a US intelligence report found some researchers at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill last November 2019 and had to be hospitalized – a new detail that fueled fresh public pressure on President Biden to delve deeper into the origin of the coronavirus disease.
To recall, Facebook announced last February that it would remove claims that COVID-19 was man-made following “consultations with leading health organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO).”
Facebook had also been pulling posts that spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and other false claims that had been debunked by public health officials.
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