Twitter has announced that it is taking more steps to protect its users from digesting false information about COVID-19. Content published by people claiming the coronavirus is a hoax, prescribing ineffective or harmful treatments for the illness or claiming that recommendations by health authorities are false will be removed.

On March 18 Twitter broadened its definition of "harmful", regarding its removal of harmful misinformation about COVID-19 on its platform.

Now, its policy goes as far to say that "Content that increases the chance that someone contracts or transmits the virus" is harmful and must be removed, not simply misinformation about the disease itself.

Content now deemed as dangerous includes those posts which claim expert guidance - like that issued by nationally-recognised health officials - is false, those that encourage people to use "fake or ineffective treatments, preventions, and diagnostic techniques", and those consisting of misleading information published by self-proclaimed "experts".

These changes were in effect as of March 18; however, considering how the virus and the media's response to it evolves every day that the pandemic continues, it's likely that this list will expand even more in the near future.

 - AFP Relaxnews