Twitter Removes Brazilian President's Posts Questioning Need For Quarantine Over COVID-19

Twitter Removes Brazilian President's Posts Questioning Need for Quarantine Over COVID-19

Two tweets by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in which the leader expressed skepticism about quarantine as a measure to curb the spread of the coronavirus, have been removed from his account by Twitter moderators, as they violated updated rules of the platform

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th March, 2020) Two tweets by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in which the leader expressed skepticism about quarantine as a measure to curb the spread of the coronavirus, have been removed from his account by Twitter moderators, as they violated updated rules of the platform.

On Sunday, Bolsonaro posted two videos on Twitter showing him not complying with social distancing recommended by the Brazilian Health Ministry. According to media reports, the president was shown walking on the streets of the capital of Brasilia, closely interacting with his supporters, whom he urged to continue working to avoid the collapse of the economy. In one video, the leader questioned measures such as a general quarantine imposed by some governors and mayors across Brazil, saying that this would result in a rise in the unemployment rate.

In a statement to the Brazilian G1 news portal, Twitter explained that it had recently expanded its global rules requiring the removal of content that contradicts public health information distributed by official international sources.

Bolsonaro has become the first head of state whose tweets have been censored by the platform under the new guidelines. The leader has repeated spoken out against strict quarantine measures, which, according to him, pose a huge threat to the national economy. In this regard, last week Bolsonaro accused politicians and media of intentionally deceiving people about the danger of the coronavirus pandemic.

To date, Brazil has confirmed over 4,200 cases of the disease and 136 fatalities.