Musk dumps Twitter’s Covid disinformation policy

Elon Musk has abandoned Twitter’s Covid disinformation policy in a grand push for free speech.

“Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the Covid-19 misleading information policy,” a notice on its website reads.

The new owner of the social media firm axed the former “Covid-19 misleading information policy” page, outlining rules surrounding Covid related content.

 “Content that is demonstrably false or misleading and may lead to significant risk of harm (such as increased exposure to the virus, or adverse effects on public health systems) may not be shared on Twitter,” the page previously said.

Twitter were not immediately available for comment.

The news comes as both staff and advertisers leave the company en masse.

According to analysis from the Washington Post, more than a third of Twitter’s top 100 marketers have not advertised on the Elon Musk site in the last two weeks.

Since Musk took the reins in late October, household names like General Motors, Merck, Kellogg and Mondelez have all pausing their adverts on the site, as fears over potential content moderation changes and blue tick verification mount.

Musk also accused Apple late yesterday of threatening to remove Twitter from its App Store.

He tweeted: “Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.”

Internally, it is understood that Musk has booted half of the company’s full-time staff of 7,500 and an untold number of contractors responsible for content moderation and other crucial efforts.