The tweet in question by Dr. Atlas sought to undermine the importance of wearing a face mask to control the spread of the coronavirus. Twitter said the tweet was in violation of the platform’s Covid-19 Misleading Information Policy, a spokesman for the company confirmed on Sunday.
The tweet posted on Saturday read, “Masks work? NO: LA, Miami, Hawaii, Alabama, France, Phlippnes, UK, Spain, Israel. WHO:”widesprd use not supported” + many harms; Heneghan/Oxf CEBM:”despite decades, considerble uncertainty re value”; CDC rvw May:”no sig red’n in inflnz transm’n”; learn why.”
Schools are essential businesses, aren’t they? AAP says it's extremely harmful to keep them closed. Kids have nearly zero risk from COVID-19 and rarely transmit to adults, proven by data from all over the world. Closing schools denies science. July 8, 2020
Atlas also shared a link to an article in The American Institute for Economic Research that argues against the effectiveness of masks. After the first tweet against wearing masks, Atlas posted a second tweet later the same day – adding that it showed Trump’s guidelines on masks was the “right policy” and no widespread mask mandates were needed, per Newsweek.
After the Atlas tweet was removed on Sunday, Dr. Atlas emailed Newsweek -saying he couldn’t understand why Twitter had deleted his tweet, explaining it contained “multiple citations,” on the effectiveness of not wearing a mask. “Twitter seems to be censoring the science if it goes against their own goals of public indoctrination,” Atlas said.
That means the right policy is realDonaldTrump guideline: use masks for their intended purpose – when close to others, especially hi risk. Otherwise, social distance. No widespread mandates. CommonSense SWAtlasHoover) October 17, 2020
Trump has leaned on Atlas in recent months over the advice of other advisers like National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Atlas is a neurologist, and not an infectious disease expert.
He has gained national prominence only because he has become a regular on FOX News, where he has pushed aggressively for re opening schools and businesses, as well as his views on “herd immunity. Scientists on Trump’s task force have been at odds with Atlas’s theories, saying the man is filling Trump’s mind with misleading data.
