Twitter to no longer enforce COVID misinformation policy

Twitter will stop enforcing its COVID-19 misinformation policy, a move raising concerns among public health experts and being lauded by those who say the social media platform selectively blocked content that questioned conventional wisdom about public policy related to slowing and ending the spread of the virus. 

Under the new leadership of billionaire Elon Musk, Twitter updated its online rules to state: "Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy." Users noticed the change this week, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

"This policy was used to silence people across the world who questioned the media narrative surrounding the virus and treatment options," tweeted Dr. Simone Gold, a COVID lockdown critic and founder of the conservative group, America's Frontline Doctors. "A win for free speech and medical freedom!"

Other experts were not as optimistic. 

"Bad news," epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding tweeted.

He urged users to remain on Twitter to fight virus misinformation. "Stay folks — do NOT cede the town square to them!," he also tweeted.

Twitter began efforts in December 2020 to remove what it considered COVID misinformation.