On Tuesday, a Twitter spokesperson said that Donald Trump Jr.’s ability to tweet would be restricted for twelve hours after he posted a video by a doctor that promoted the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine and dismissed the need for masks and locking down.
President Donald Trump’s eldest son also won’t be able to like or retweet anything for the same period.
The video in question went viral on Monday after it was published by Breitbart News, a right-wing media outlet.
In the video, a Houston doctor called studies that concluded hydroxychloroquine was an ineffective drug for treating COVID-19 “fake science.”
The doctor also falsely stated that the drug is a “cure” for the virus, even though there is no cure yet. He went on to add that “you don’t need masks” to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Trump Jr.’s aide, Andrew Surabian, tweeted that Twitter’s suspending Trump Jr’s account amounted to “open election interference.”
In response to the screenshot posted by Suribian, Twitter spokesperson Trenton Kennedy told Business Insider that “We did not suspend the account. The screenshot shared directly says that Twitter required the Tweet to be deleted because it violated our rules, and that we would limit some account functionality for 12 hours.”
President Trump also retweeted the video. The video was removed from YouTube, Twitter and Facebook after it went viral.
A Twitter spokesperson told ABC News that Trump’s account was not suspended because he only retweeted the video, whereas his son uploaded it on-site.
“The President did not Tweet the video in question, he Retweeted it. Therefore, the account owner of the Tweet he Retweeted will face enforcement action.”
Have a tip or story? Get in touch with our reporters at [email protected]