Coronavirus misinformation

Twitter: Laura Ingraham tweet broke rules against coronavirus misinformation

Ingraham tweeted praise for hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug championed by the president as a potential treatment for the virus.

By CRISTIANO LIMA

Fox News host Laura Ingraham has deleted a tweet touting an unproven coronavirus treatment that a Twitter spokesperson said today ran afoul of its rules against misleading health information.

Ingraham earlier this month tweeted praise for hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug championed by President Donald Trump as a potential treatment for the virus, despite little evidence to that effect.

In the March 20 tweet, Ingraham claimed that the drug was already in use in “many hospitals,” including at Lenox Hill in New York, and was showing “very promising results,” according to a screenshot viewed by POLITICO. The tweet referenced a segment on the host’s prime-time show that erroneously attributed information to a Lenox Hill doctor who in fact does not work at the facility.

Fox News later issued a correction saying the segment had misstated the doctor's relationship to the hospital. A network spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment today.

A Twitter spokesperson said earlier today that the company required Ingraham to delete the post for violating its policies. But the company later reversed course, saying Ingraham was not forced to take it down.

Twitter separately required Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to delete a post for making a number of erroneous statements, including calling hydroxychloroquine "100% effective" in treating Covid-19, the site Mediaite reported Saturday. Under Twitter policy, accounts can be locked until tweets that run afoul of its rules are deleted. Giuliani has since posted several other tweets touting the drug.

The social media giants in recent weeks have beefed up their policies against misleading claims amid the outbreak. In another enforcement action, Google recently removed the far-right show Infowars from its Android App for spreading coronavirus misinformation.

The moves come as the Trump administration express growing interest in hydroxychloroquine's potential as a coronavirus treatment, including a Food and Drug Administration authorization issued Sunday for emergency use of the drug. Career scientists have expressed skepticism and called on the agency to first pursue clinical trials.