Back on February 8, Facebook announced that it would restrict posts about claims that COVID-19 might be man-made or manufactured.
In other words, claims like, for example, that COVID was released or leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
Now, Facebook is lifting its ban, according to a Politico report on Wednesday.
Scoop: Facebook will no longer remove posts claiming Covid-19 was man-made, as support mounts for probes into the virus’ origins & the Wuhan lab-leak theory https://t.co/siVvfWDb2I tip @Techmeme
— Cristiano Lima-Strong (@viaCristiano) May 26, 2021
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Facebook Ban Lifted ‘In Light Of Ongoing Investigations’
Politico reported, “Facebook will no longer take down posts claiming that Covid-19 was man-made or manufactured, a company spokesperson told POLITICO on Wednesday, a move that acknowledges the renewed debate about the virus’ origins.”
The original ban came into being when the Big Tech company consulted the World Health Organization.
But now, “in light of ongoing investigations,” the ban will be removed due to “new” debate around the true origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many commentators, including President Trump, have claimed for months that there is a possibility that the virus was released or leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Such comments were banned from Facebook and ridiculed by the mainstream media.
TIME Magazine explains in a headline: “How Distrust of Donald Trump Muddled the COVID-19 ‘Lab Leak’ Debate.”
What changed?
Politico observed that “President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he has ordered the intelligence community to “redouble” its efforts to find out the virus’ origin and report back in 90 days.”
For many months, Facebook used to ban the claim that Covid-19 is man-made as “misinformation.” Now they won’t ban that same claim, because they concede it’s not misinformation. Doesn’t it follow from these two facts that Facebook itself has been a purveyor of misinformation?
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 27, 2021
Facebook Has Taken A Hardline Approach To ‘Disinformation’
“Biden also revealed that the intelligence community is split between two theories about Covid-19’s origin, and said the review will examine ‘whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident,” Politico noted.
“Bipartisan support is also building on Capitol Hill for a congressional inquiry,” the outlet also observed.
Facebook has taken a hardline approach to anything it perceives as ‘disinformation’ about COVID-19 throughout the pandemic.
#BREAKING: @JoeBiden has given the US intelligence community 90 days for a report on the origins of COVID, including “specific questions for China”.
There is widespread speculation that the origin of the virus was a Wuhan lab, not a “wet market”.https://t.co/J9dvKhQuna
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) May 26, 2021
Facebook: ‘We Will No Longer Remove The Claim That COVID-19 Is Man-Made’
The social media company said they put warning labels on more than 50 million pieces of content in just April 2020 alone based on articles from “independent fact-checkers.”
“In light of ongoing investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and in consultation with public health experts, we will no longer remove the claim that COVID-19 is man-made from our apps,” A Facebook spokesperson told Politico in an emailed statement.
“We’re continuing to work with health experts to keep pace with the evolving nature of the pandemic and regularly update our policies as new facts and trends emerge,” the spokesperson added.
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