--- description: The move was a part of Elon Musk’s mission to remake the social network as a place for unmoderated speech. title: Twitter Says It Stopped Policing COVID Misinformation Under Musk image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30f427abd4793dea/698a386022fb85c751e2e312/Musk-twitter-covid-misinformation.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [COVID-19](/tag/covid-19/) ## COVID-19 Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Twitter Says It Stopped Policing COVID Misinformation Under Musk by [Maxwell Adler/Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Maxwell Adler/Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 29, 2022 4:40 PM CUT  New York, US - November 18: A view of Twitter Headquarters on November 18, 2022 in New York, United States. New York, US - November 18: A view of Twitter Headquarters on November 18, 2022 in New York, United States.Lokman Vural Elibol—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images by [Maxwell Adler/Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Maxwell Adler/Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 29, 2022 4:40 PM CUT Twitter Inc. said it ended a policy designed to suppress false or misleading information about COVID-19, part of Elon Musk’s [polarizing mission](https://time.com/6234390/musk-twitter-staff-email-hardcore/ "undefined") to remake the social network as a place for unmoderated speech. By discarding the COVID rule, the company will no longer apply labels to posts containing falsehoods about the disease or provide supplemental corrective information as it did before. It will apparently no longer remove inaccurate tweets or ban offending accounts either. The company disclosed the change in a [note](https://transparency.twitter.com/en/reports/covid19.html#2021-jul-dec "undefined") added to a page on its website outlining the old COVID policy. It says Twitter stopped enforcing the rule on Nov. 23. **Read More:** [_Twitter Was a Lifeline for People With Disabilities. Musk’s Reign Is Changing All of That_](https://time.com/6230469/disability-users-twitter-elon-musk/ "undefined") Twitter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Sky News [reported](https://news.sky.com/story/twitter-quietly-drops-policy-preventing-sharing-of-covid-19-misinformation-12757898 "undefined") on the revision earlier Tuesday. Over 11,000 accounts had been suspended and over 97,000 pieces of misleading content had been removed from the time Twitter introduced the COVID policy in January 2020 to when it ended last week, according to data on Twitter’s website. Twitter has received frequent criticism for its lack of action against disinformation and misinformation over the last decade. The critiques were heightened during the presidency of Donald Trump due to his controversial and prolific tweeting, including ones that violated Twitter’s policies on [coronavirus misinformation](https://time.com/5773801/scientists-counter-misinformation-coronavirus/ "undefined"). Musk moved to [reinstate Trump’s Twitter](https://time.com/6235372/musk-trump-twitter-account/ "undefined") account this month, though the former president has yet to post from it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6237418/twitter-covid-misinformation-musk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6237418/twitter-covid-misinformation-musk/"},"headline":"Twitter Says It Stopped Policing COVID Misinformation Under Musk","datePublished":"2022-11-29T16:40:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:52:53.343Z","description":"The move was a part of Elon Musk’s mission to remake the social network as a place for unmoderated speech.","url":"https://time.com/6237418/twitter-covid-misinformation-musk/","keywords":["COVID-19","Tech","wire","biztech2030","bloomberg wire"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30f427abd4793dea/698a386022fb85c751e2e312/Musk-twitter-covid-misinformation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maxwell Adler/Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30f427abd4793dea/698a386022fb85c751e2e312/Musk-twitter-covid-misinformation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Twitter Says It Stopped Policing Covid Misinformation Under Musk","caption":"Musk-twitter-covid-misinformation","creditText":"Lokman Vural Elibol—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6237418/twitter-covid-misinformation-musk/","name":"Twitter Says It Stopped Policing COVID Misinformation Under Musk"}}]}] ```