Twitter to remove COVID-19 vaccine misinformation

Twitter is set to crack down on misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines as the first doses begin to go out in the United States.

The social media company said Wednesday that starting next week, it will be expanding its COVID-19 misinformation policy and "may require people to remove Tweets which advance harmful false or misleading narratives about COVID-19 vaccinations."

This, Twitter said, could include posts "that invoke a deliberate conspiracy" theory about vaccines, debunked claims about the effects of receiving a vaccine, or false claims that "vaccinations are unnecessary" because "COVID-19 is not real or not serious."

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Additionally, starting early next year, Twitter said it may label tweets that "advance unsubstantiated rumors, disputed claims, as well as incomplete or out-of-context information about vaccines." The site previously removed tweets with false or misleading misinformation about "preventative measures, treatments, or other precautions to mitigate" COVID-19, among other false claims.

This move comes after Facebook announced earlier this month it would be removing false claims about COVID-19 vaccines "that have been debunked by public health experts" both on Facebook and Instagram. On Monday, the first American health care workers began to receive Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, and a second vaccine could potentially be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration by the end of this week. Twitter said its updated policy will start being enforced on Dec. 21.