Facebook removes Trump video over false virus claim

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Facebook said Wednesday it has removed a video posted by US President Donald Trump over violations of its policies, marking the first time it has removed one of his posts.

The post included a segment from a Fox News interview Trump had taken part in earlier in the day in which he falsely claimed that children are "almost immune" from the novel coronavirus.

"This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19, which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation," a Facebook spokesman said in a statement sent to Anadolu Agency.

Trump has long been pushing for schools to reopen to in-person learning come the Fall semester and said during the interview that one reason they should is that children are "virtually immune" to the virus.

Children are not immune either "virtually" or "almost" to the virus, and they can suffer serious health problems and death from COVID-19.

A link to the post now alerts users: "Sorry, this content isn't available right now."

The Trump campaign said in a widely-reported statement that Trump "was stating a fact that children are less susceptible to the coronavirus."

“Another day, another display of Silicon Valley’s flagrant bias against this President, where the rules are only enforced in one direction. Social media companies are not the arbiters of truth,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Courtney Parella reportedly said in a statement.