Anti-Covid vaccine tweets face a five-strikes ban policy

March 2, 2021: Twitter has plans to ban users who tweets harmful misinformation repeatedly about Covid-19 vaccines.

Under the scheme, users will face a lock on their account. Its duration depends on how many times they have posted misleading information about the jabs.

Anti-disinformation campaigners say the success of the initiative now depends on the strictness of Twitter to enforce.

The five-strikes system includes tweets labeled and determined to be harmful accrue one strike, and tweets that are deleted accrue two strikes.

The accounts that get two and three strikes lead to a 12-hour suspension, whereas four strikes will lead to a week-long lockout and finally five strikes or more leading to a permanent ban.

Facebook and Instagram had announced their pledge to close the accounts of repeat offenders a month ago.

And YouTube already operates its three-strikes system, which was extended in October to cover claims about vaccines that contradict “expert consensus.”

Twitter added that it would start applying labels to tweets that it believes “may contain misleading information” about Covid-19 vaccines. It has not been deemed to be severe enough to warrant removal.

Its rules and policies guide is not definitive about how it will determine what action to take.

It will delete posts that invoke a “deliberate conspiracy” by malicious forces or claim vaccines are an “intentional attempt to cause harm.”

And it will label those that only contain misleading information about the safety of the treatments.

Posts that question the jabs’ effectiveness but do not misrepresent research findings will be neither removed nor labeled, the guide adds.

In a blog, Twitter added that it had removed more than 8,400 tweets to date for breaking its earlier Covid-19 rules.