Twitter has removed a ‘misleading’ tweet from White House adviser Dr Scott Atlas who claimed that masks don’t work.
In the tweet shared on Saturday, Atlas wrote: ‘Masks work? No.’
Atlas, who has been on the coronavirus task force since the pandemic began in the US, then used examples of areas where he said ‘cases exploded even with mandates’.
Atlas included the following locations in the tweet: Los Angeles, Miami, Hawaii, Alabama, France, Philippines, United Kingdom, Spain and Israel.
Masks and facial coverings are used to prevent people who have the virus from infecting others.
Twitter has removed a ‘misleading’ tweet from White House adviser Dr Scott Atlas (pictured) who claimed that masks don’t work
In the tweet shared on Saturday, Atlas wrote: ‘Masks work? No’
Twitter subsequently removed the tweet, but Atlas followed up with a response to the censorship
Twitter subsequently removed the tweet, but Atlas followed up with a response to the censorship.
‘That means the right policy is @realDonaldTrump guideline: use masks for their intended purpose – when close to others, especially hi risk. Otherwise, social distance. No widespread mandates. #CommonSense,’ Atlas wrote.
A Twitter spokesperson told CNN that the tweet was removed because it violated the company’s Covid-19 Misleading Information Policy.
Twitter said that Atlas violated the policy that prohibits users from sharing false or misleading content related to the pandemic that could lead to harm.
In recent weeks, several states have shown an increase in COVID-19 infections.
On Friday, the US reported 69,100 new cases in a single day. The number hasn’t been that high since July 29 when 71,300 cases were reported in a day.
In an email to The Federalist, Atlas explained his reasoning behind his tweet, citing the World Health Organization (WHO).
Atlas noted a document from the WHO that reads: ‘The widespread use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not yet supported by high quality or direct scientific evidence and there are potential benefits and harms to consider.’
His remarks come just a month after NBC News reportedly overheard CDC Director Robert Redfield suggesting in a conversation with a colleague that Atlas is arming Trump with misleading data about masks and other issues.
‘Everything he says is false,’ Redfield said during a phone call made in public on a commercial airline, according to NBC.
Atlas (seen with Trump) explained his reasoning behind his tweet, citing the World Health Organization (WHO)’s document that said: ‘The widespread use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not yet supported by high quality or direct scientific evidence’
Atlas, a neuroradiologist, is not an expert on infectious diseases.
The move to censor the tweet from Atlas comes as Twitter and Facebook are accused of ‘politically motivated censorship’.
Both social media giants deliberately stopped users from linking to stories alleging corruption involving Donald Trump’s Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
The row exploded after the New York Post reported that Biden’s son, Hunter, allegedly offered to introduce his Ukrainian business partners to his father, who was vice-president at the time, in exchange for cash.
The report was based on an email recovered from an abandoned laptop that had been turned over to the Trump administration.
Facebook said the story had to be fact-checked and Twitter said it violated its rules on using hacked material.
Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey was forced to offer a humiliating apology, describing the decision to block links to the story as ‘unacceptable’.
Biden, who is leading in the polls for the election, has denied all claims of corruption against him. He said: ‘It’s another smear campaign.’
Biden supporters have also questioned the authenticity of the emails, which were released last week by Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Facebook and Twitter’s actions provoked an outcry from Republicans who accused them of censorship.
The party has filed an official complaint with the federal election commission over the social media ban.
