Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Because of lies about corona vaccination
Facebook and Youtube restrict Bolsonaro
Brazil is hit by corona waves like hardly any other country. Nevertheless, President Bolsonaro does not allow himself to be dissuaded from spreading lies about Covid vaccines. Because of a particularly absurd assertion in a video, two social networks are drawing conclusions.
In response to a video by Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, the online networks Facebook and Youtube have restricted his user accounts. Facebook deleted the video in question, YouTube imposed a one-week ban on the president, as the online platform announced. In the video in question, the president spoke of the negative effects of the corona vaccines on people infected with HIV.
“We have removed a video from Jair Bolsonaro’s channel because it violates our medical disinformation guidelines on Covid-19,” Youtube justified the move. The president claimed that “vaccines do not reduce the risk of contracting the disease and cause other infectious diseases”. As part of his weekly live address on Facebook, the right-wing extremist head of state had quoted “official reports” from the British government, according to which fully vaccinated people would develop an immunodeficiency syndrome more quickly.
“I recommend you read the article,” said Bolsonaro in the video, without saying where the information came from. The claim has since been refuted. The UK government denied the existence of any reports on the matter. A Brazilian medical association announced that there was no evidence of a connection between the corona vaccines and AIDS. Bolsonaro has not had himself vaccinated so far and has previously caused a stir with comments on vaccines. Among other things, he said that if someone turns “into an alligator” after vaccination, that is their problem.