Twitter deletes tweet from White House coronavirus task force member over misleading claim

(Image credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Image)

published 18 October 2020

Twitter zapped a tweet from White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Scott Atlas, who falsely claimed that masks don't work in combating COVID-19. Twitter said the tweet violated the platform's COVID-19 Misleading Information Policy.

Atlas is far from the first member of the Trump administration to have Twitter step in over spreading misinformation about the pandemic; in the past several weeks, the website has put warning labels on a number of the president's own tweets, including his erroneous claim that he is "immune" to COVID-19.

Trump has praised Atlas, who diverges from government medical experts about the seriousness of the pandemic. "He's working with us and will be working with us on the coronavirus," Trump said in August, as reported by CNN. "And he has many great ideas. And he thinks what we've done is really good, and now we'll take it to a new level."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.