Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have deleted videos of a US-based physician Dr Stella Immanuel where she is seen claiming to have recorded a 100 per cent success rate in the treatment of coronavirus (COVID-19) using hydroxychloroquine.
Immanuel is seen in the video shot in front of the United States Supreme Court with seven others wearing white lab coats calling themselves “America’s Frontline Doctors”.
The video was first published by Breitbart News co-founded by Steve Bannon, a former aide of US President Donald Trump.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that hydroxychloroquine is a cure for coronavirus, a claim also supported by Immanuel.
The American president shared multiple versions of the video with his 84 million Twitter followers on Monday night.
Addressing the press, Immanuel claimed that face masks are not needed and that recent studies showing hydroxychloroquine is ineffective for the treatment of COVID-19 are “fake science” sponsored by “fake pharma companies”.
A Facebook spokesperson however told CNN that the video had been taken down.
“We’ve removed this video for sharing false information about cures and treatments for COVID-19,” the source said, adding that the platform is “showing messages in News Feed to people who have reacted to, commented on or shared harmful COVID-19-related misinformation that we have removed, connecting them to myths debunked by the WHO.”
The video was viewed more than 14 million times before Facebook acted.
“We’re taking action in line with our Covid misinfo policy,” a Twitter spokesperson told CNN.
YouTube acted after more than 40,000 viewers had seen the video.
