Facebook will no longer take down posts claiming that Covid-19 was man-made or manufactured, according to Facebook officials, as the debate renews about the origin of the virus.
In February, Facebook said that it would remove from its platforms misleading health claims, including those asserting that “COVID-19 is man-made or manufactured.”
The change in policy is the first for a prominent social media platform to allow the lab-leak theory back onto their platform.
President Biden called for a continuation of the investigation by the intelligence community after a report by the Wall Street Journal said three scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized in November 2019.
The focus of late has been on the notion that the virus may have accidentally escaped from the lab, not that it was man-made or purposely released — theories that could now propagate on Facebook. Genetic studies of the virus have found flaws in the protein it uses to bind to human cells. Those are features that someone trying to engineer a bioweapon likely would have avoided.
Bipartisan support is growing on Capitol Hill for a congressional inquiry.