The video, published by the right-wing media outlet Breitbart News, featured a group of people wearing white lab coats calling themselves “United States Frontline Doctors” organizing a press conference in front of the US Supreme Court. United States in Washington, DC.
President Trump shared multiple versions of the video with his 84 million Twitter followers on Monday night despite dubious claims contrary to his administration’s own public health experts. White House spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
During the press conference, a speaker who identifies himself as a doctor makes a series of dubious claims, including that he “does not need masks” to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and that recent studies showing that hydroxychloroquine is not effective in treating Covid -19 are “false science” sponsored by “false pharmaceutical companies”.
“This virus has a cure, it is called hydroxychloroquine, zinc and Zithromax,” says the woman. “You don’t need masks, there is a cure.”
The claims run contrary to multiple studies of the antimalarial drug and advice from public health officials to prevent the spread of the virus.
The video quickly went viral on Facebook, making it one of the highest-performing posts on the platform with more than 14 million views before it was pulled on Monday night for promoting misinformation. It was shared nearly 600,000 times, according to Crowdtangle, a Facebook-owned data analytics firm.
“We have removed this video for sharing false information about cures and treatments for COVID-19,” a Facebook spokesperson told CNN, adding that the platform “shows News Feed messages to people who have reacted, commented, or shared damage. Related information with COVID-19 that we have eliminated, connecting them with myths debunked by the WHO. “
Twitter worked to remove the video Monday night after Trump shared versions of the video that garnered hundreds of thousands of views.
“We are taking action in line with our Covid misinformation policy,” a Twitter spokesperson told CNN.
Twitter cracked down on the videos Trump retweeted. First thing on Tuesday morning, the videos were no longer viewable on his account. Twitter also cracked down on a version of the video posted by Donald Trump Jr. and others shared by Breitbart News.
The video was also removed by YouTube, where it had been viewed more than 40,000 times. Users trying to access the video on Monday night were greeted with a message saying it had been removed for “violating the YouTube Community Guidelines.”
A Breitbart spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN.
According to the United States front-line physicians website, the group is led by Dr. Simone Gold, a Los Angeles-based emergency medicine specialist who has previously appeared on Fox News for her views that the orders staying home is harmful. Gold told the Associated Press in May that he wanted to speak out against the stay-at-home orders because “there was no scientific basis that the average American should be concerned” about Covid-19.
Frontline doctors in the United States could not be reached for comment Monday night.
As of Monday, the virus has caused nearly 150,000 deaths in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University, and is on its way to becoming a leading cause of death in the country.
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