Twitter has temporarily limited some of the features of Donald Trump Jr.’s account after sharing a video discussing the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, an unproven coronavirus treatment.
According to a screenshot of the account’s limitations shared by Twitter, Trump was found violating the company’s policies on “spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.”
The president’s eldest son will still be able to browse Twitter and send Direct Messages, but he will not be allowed to tweet, retweet, follow or like content for 12 hours.
“This account has not been permanently suspended. Per the screenshot, the Tweet requires deletion because it violates our rules (sharing misinformation on COVID-19), and the account will have limited functionality for 12 hours,” the company tweeted.
President Donald Trump also retweeted the video late Monday, which pushes misleading claims about hydroxychloroquine. Earlier in the pandemic, Trump advocated vigorously for hydroxychloroquine to be used as a treatment, or even a preventative, telling people, “What have you got to lose?”
Trump also said he took a 14-day course of hydroxychloroquine.
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube began scrubbing their sites of the video Monday because it includes misleading claims about hydroxychloroquine, and glosses over the dangers of taking it. But dozens of versions of the video remain live on their platforms, with conservative news outlets, groups and internet personalities sharing it on their pages, where users have viewed them millions of times.
One version of the video had more than 17 million views before Facebook took it down.
Versions of the video are still circulating widely on platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, racking up millions of views. Facebook and Twitter said they have removed several versions and are working to take down others. YouTube also said it has removed the video from its site.
