Twitter limits Donald Trump Jr.’s account after sharing coronavirus disinformation

Twitter temporarily limited Donald Trump Jr.’s account after the president’s son shared a video that broke the platform’s coronavirus misinformation policies, a spokesperson confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday.

Trump Jr. will have some functionality — like being able to tweet or retweet — limited for 12 hours.

He is not suspended from the platform, although his spokesperson claimed otherwise in a statement.

“Twitter suspending Don Jr. for sharing a viral video of medical professionals discussing their views on Hydroxychloroquine is further proof that Big Tech is intent on killing free expression online and is another instance of them committing election interference to stifle Republican voices,” Andy Surabian said.

Surabian also said in a tweet that Twitter is playing “BS word games” and the limits still amount to a suspension.

When the features “temporarily limited” are the abilities to tweet and retweet, what would you call that?

Anyone with a functioning brain would call it a suspension, despite the BS word games @Twitter is playing here. https://t.co/kt5S4Wvt3A

— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) July 28, 2020

The video in question has been taken down for violating Twitter rules.

It defends the use of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug touted by President Trump, to combat COVID-19 and claims that you do not need a mask, despite broad medical consensus saying masks can significantly slow the spread of the disease.

The video spread like wildfire on social media platforms Monday, racking up millions of views before being taken down.

It especially picked up traction after being shared by right-wing site Breitbart News and the political group Tea Party Patriots.

Facebook took the video down in the evening, although other copies have popped up on the platform.

Google also removed the video from Breitbart’s YouTube channel.

Twitter began blocking the video Tuesday morning, temporarily limiting the functionality of accounts posting it.

Trump also shared the video, but because he retweeted it instead of tweeting it his account will not be affected, according to a Twitter spokesperson.