Photo sharing site Instagram had flagged the account of singer and actress Madonna and removed a post in which she had shared a conspiracy video. The video in question has Dr. Stella Immanuel, who has been in news in recent times for the claims that the medicine hydroxychloroquine cures COVID-19. Infact the singer had herself talked about the incorrect pronouncements in her post. The video had the caption “The truth will set us all free” and the proclaiming cane to a conclusion stating that Immanuel was “my hero”.
Madonna also went on to falsely claim that a vaccine against the novel coronavirus has been available since many months and that people who wanted to earn money and remain in power do not reveal about it and will not make it available so soon. After her claims, the singer shared a post on July 28, 2020 which appeared blurred and had a warning over the video while proclaiming “False information” and by the next day morning it was gone. Raki Wane, the policy communications manager at Instagram while talking to a leading daily said that they have removed the video due to the false accusations that it has made in terms of cures and prevention measures of COVID-19.
Wane added that people who have commented, reacted or shared the video would be able to see messages while directing them to authoritative information about coronavirus. It was on July 29, 2020 when the number of deaths in the United States hit 150,000 mark, but it was actually the misinformation that spreads faster than the virus. Instagram along with Facebook and Twitter is removing all the instances of the video.
A number of tech companies are working hard towards the spread of the misinformation about the coronavirus and the medicine and vaccine availability. The virus originated in the Wuhan city in China in December, 2019 and has not managed to spread in a number of countries across the globe.
Photo Credits: Madonna official Instagram page
