Twitter Eliminates COVID-19 Misinformation Policy

Twitter will no longer take action against users who share misinformation about COVID-19, eliminating a policy it put in place at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

"Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy," the social media company wrote on its COVID misinformation page.

Twitter has challenged 11.72 million accounts for posting COVID misinformation. Those challenges resulted in the suspension of 11,320 accounts since the start of the pandemic, though most of those suspensions came in 2022. The number of accounts that were suspended peaked in January 2022, with over 2,200. In addition, the social media company has also removed tens of thousands of tweets that contained purported misinformation about the pandemic.

Many of those accounts could be reinstated as Twitter CEO Elon Musk vowed to provide amnesty to users who were suspended before he bought out the company.

"The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei," Musk tweeted on November 24.