Facebook Inc and YouTube, the video service of Alphabet Inc's Google, said on Thursday that they were removing a video that made medically unsubstantiated claims relating to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The 26-minute video dubbed "Plandemic" went viral this week across social media platforms. It features Judy Mikovits, an activist among people who contend that many common vaccines are dangerous.
Mikovits says in the video that wearing masks activates the coronavirus within people, without providing evidence, and criticizes orders to stay away from beaches.
"Suggesting that wearing a mask can make you sick could lead to imminent harm, so we're removing the video," Facebook said.
Mikovits could not be reached for comment, while producers of the video did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In the video, Mikovits also describes the coronavirus as a conspiracy among people trying to profit from vaccines and raises concerns about vaccines. She says anyone who has ever received a flu vaccine had a coronavirus injected into them, without providing substantiation.
COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, emerged in late 2019 and there is no known vaccine and or cure for it. Vaccines are available for seasonal flu, which is caused by a separate virus.
YouTube said it was working to keep the video off its service in accordance with its rules against "content that includes medically unsubstantiated diagnostic advice" about the coronavirus and the related respiratory illness COVID-19.
But late on Thursday, slightly edited copies of the original video remained available on YouTube.
Twitter Inc said it had blocked users from using the hashtags #PlagueOfCorruption and #Plandemicmovie, but said that content in a shorter clip posted on its service did not violate its policy against COVID-19 misinformation.
The companies have been under pressure from the World Health Organization and other health authorities around the world to police harmful content and misinformation about the pandemic.
While the companies have dedicated workers to address the challenge, misinformation continues to flow, including from groups growing frustrated with business closures and stay-at-home orders and taking to social media to argue against them.
-reuters-
MANILA - Pasig City will provide about P8,000 each for some 113,000 families who were not included in the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD) list of cash aid beneficiaries, Mayor Vico Sotto said Sunday.
Under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, DSWD-identified beneficiaries will receive P8,000 twice, but only 93,000 of the 206,000 indigent families in Pasig City were included in the list, Sotto said.
"Lahat po ng hindi mabibigay sa listahan ng DSWD Social Amelioration Program, sasaluhin po ng Lungsod ng Pasig. Hindi sa buong halaga na P16,000 pero kung ano yung kaya, ibibigay natin," the mayor said.
(Pasig City will shoulder all those who were not included in the DSWD's Social Amelioration Program. We cannot match the P16,000 cash aid, but we will give what we can.)
"Medyo magkakaproblema po tayo kung 93,000 lang ang mabibigyan... [Kasi] kung yung kapitbahay niyo nabigyan tapos kayo hindi, baka magkaron ng mga akusasyon na may palakasan," he said.
(We might have a problem if only 93,000 will receive the cash aid because if your neighbor receives it and you don't, there might be accusations that the government is playing favorites.)
The amount of P8,000 per family may still change as the city government is still "studying its cash position," Sotto said.
The city government is in the process of finding cash sources to fund the supplemental cash aid program, the mayor said.
"'Yung pera ng Pasig na nasa trust fund, ilalabas natin... Magsasakripisyo tayo, maghihigpit tayo ng sinturon, may mga programang kakanselahin muna natin," he said.
(We will use the money from Pasig's trust fund... We will have to sacrifice, we will have to tighten our belts, there will have to cancel some programs.)
Sotto said the city government will try its best to provide for all Pasig City residents, but appealed to well-off Pasigueños to decline receiving aid.
"'Yung may kaya naman o yung may savings naman, wag na po kayo kumuha sa Pasig Social Amelioration Program natin," he said.
(For those who are well-off or have savings, please don't get from the Pasig Social Amelioration Program.)
"Hindi naman po ito Christmas gift. Ito po ay tulong sa mga nagugutom o mga magugutom," he said.
(This is not a Christmas gift. This is aid for those who are starving or those who are about to starve.)
Cases will be filed against residents who will try to get more aid than what is due to them, Sotto said.
The city government will start convening barangay officials this week to finalize how the supplemental aid will be distributed in communities, the mayor said.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
