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Twitter users who spread COVID vaccine misinformation face permanent ban

Twitter is launching a five-strike system that can lead to permanent suspension for the repeated spread of harmful COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

Twitter will permanently ban users who repeatedly spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine, the social media platform announced Monday.

Twitter said it has started applying labels to tweets "that may contain misleading information about COVID-19 vaccines" in addition to its overall effort to remove "the most harmful" misleading COVID-19 information in general.

The label reads, "This tweet may be misleading. Find out why health officials consider COVID-19 vaccines safe for most people." It may link to curated content, public health information or Twitter's rules. 

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Beyond that, Twitter is implementing a strike system aimed at repeat offenders. Users will be notified when a label or Tweet removal may lead to additional action by the platform. If it continues, there will be five strikes against the user.

1: No account-level action

2: Account locked for 12 hours

3: Account locked for another 12 hours

4: Account locked for seven days

5: Permanent suspension

Twitter says it has removed more than 8,400 tweets and challenged 11.5 million accounts worldwide since December over misleading COVID-19 information.

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