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After Twitter, Facebook and Instagram take down Bolsonaro's misleading posts

WION Web Team
New Delhi, IndiaEdited By: Bharat SharmaUpdated: Mar 31, 2020, 03:48 PM IST
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File photo of Brazillian President Jair Bolsonaro. Photograph:(AFP)

Story highlights

An additional video in which he claimed that social distancing needs to be avoided was also taken down

After Twitter removed posts by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for spreading misinformation about ways to contain coronavirus, Facebook removed the posts across all its platforms, including Instagram.

As per company rules, the posts peddled fake news and claimed that the anti-malaria prescription drug hydroxychloroquine was an effective treatment for COVID-19

An additional video in which he claimed that social distancing needs to be avoided was also taken down.

Twitter on Sunday removed two tweets by  Bolsonaro for not confirming to public health guidelines on coronavirus.

The social networking site while taking down the tweets said that it had recently expanded its global rules on managing content that contradicted public health information from official sources and could put people at greater risk of transmitting COVID-19.

In the now deleted video, Bolsonaro told a street vendor: "What I have been hearing from people is that they want to work."

"What I have said from the beginning is that 'we are going to be careful, the over-65s stay at home,'" he said.

"We just can't stand still, there is fear because if you don't die of the disease, you starve," the vendor told Bolsonaro, who responded, saying: "You're not going to die!".

In another deleted video, the Brazilian president called for "return to normality" while questioning quarantine measures imposed by government officials across the country.

Bolsonaro had earlier said "some people will die, they will die, that's life" while describing the consequences of the coronavirus outbreak in the country leading to a huge controversy.

There are over 3,400 cases of the COVID-19 in Brazil with 92 deaths reported.