Singing Superstar Madonna has been censored on Instagram for broadcasting false news about an assumed cure for COVID-19 after Madonna shared clips from a video also re-tweeted by US President Donald Trump.
With 15.4 million followers, Madonna alleged that a proven vaccine for COVID-19 had been available for months but it was being kept secret “to let the rich get richer and the poor and sick get sicker.”
She attached a video of US physician Stella Immanuel who recommended hydroxychloroquine as a wonder coronavirus cure.
Several video clips of Immanuel’s expression have flowed rapidly on the internet in recent days, but hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, has not been established as effective against COVID-19.
“We’ve removed this video for making false claims about cures and prevention methods for COVID-19,” a spokeswoman for Facebook, which owns Instagram, said to AFP on Wednesday.
“People who reacted to, commented on, or shared this video, will see messages directing them to authoritative information about the virus.”
Madonna’s post was deleted, but screengrabs showed it had earlier been blurred by Instagram and tagged “False Information — reviewed by independent fact-checkers” including a link to a page debunking the video.
