Facebook has suspended the page of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for 30 days. The social media justified its move by saying that Maduro violated its platform’s policies against the spread of misinformation about COVID-19, as reported by the news agency “Reuters”. Specifically, Maduro shared content according to which a medicine whose main ingredient is… thyme, could cure Coronavirus.
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In January, Nicolas Maduro publicly claimed that Carvativir – a traditional remedy derived from thyme – was a “miracle” cure for COVID-19, without citing scientific evidence to support this. This claim has never been endorsed by doctors.
Maduro posted on the popular platform a video that promoted the specific drug. In the video, Carvativir was referred to as «miraculous drops» that can be used both for the treatment of the Coronavirus and to prevent infection. Given that the video spread false claims, Facebook removed it from Maduro's page.
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Additionally, a Facebook spokesperson told Reuters that the company is following guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) which says there is currently no drug that can cure the virus. In addition, it made it clear that Carvativir is not a cure or prevention for COVID-19.
Maduro is not the first politician to promote a “cure” for COVID-19 on Facebook. Former US President Donald Trumpalso used the platform to spread the false claim that REGN-COV2, the antibody cocktail he was given in the hospital when he fell ill with COVID-19, was what he called a “cure.”
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Regardless of whether someone is a prominent figure or a regular Facebook user, the same rules apply. Facebook says it will “remove misinformation when public health authorities conclude that information is false and may contribute to imminent violence or physical harm.
In a statement issued on March 28, the Venezuelan Ministry of Information stated the following: “Facebook is persecuting content intended to combat the pandemic and described Carvativir as a retrovirus of national production and engineering. We are witnessing a digital totalitarianism practiced by transnational corporations that want to impose their law on the countries of the world.
