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Twitter blocks tweet from Trump adviser downplaying masks

Twitter outages reported nationally
Posted at 8:12 PM, Oct 18, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-18 23:12:54-04

NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter has blocked a post from an adviser to President Donald Trump who suggested that masks do not work to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Scott Atlas joined the White House in August as a science adviser. He had tweeted “Masks work? NO.”

The post said widespread use of masks is not supported. It was blocked Sunday.

A Twitter spokesperson says the tweet violated a company policy that prohibits sharing false or misleading misinformation about COVID-19. In such cases, Twitter disables the account until its owner deletes the post in question. Atlas called Twitter's action censorship.