Could Bolsonaro leave the presidency by report?
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(CNN) -
Facebook on Sunday removed a video from Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro's weekly live broadcast suggesting that covid-19 vaccines could increase the risk of HIV infection, a CNN told CNN. Facebook spokesperson in Brazil.
"Our policies do not allow allegations that COVID-19 vaccines kill or may cause serious harm to people," the Facebook spokesperson said.
In the broadcast, aired last Thursday, Bolsonaro cited a bogus story claiming that UK government studies suggest that fully vaccinated people were developing AIDS "at a faster rate than anticipated."
Specialists told CNN that there are no such studies.
According to Dr. Fernando Gomes, CNN Brazil medical correspondent, "there is no scientific work or scientific study that supports what has been said."
Speaking to CNN, Dr. Tania Vergara, coordinator of the HIV / AIDS committee of the Brazilian Society of Infectology, affirmed that "these vaccines cannot transmit any type of infectious agent, since they do not even use live viruses."
It is the first time that the social media company takes this type of action against the transmission of the Brazilian president.
In March 2020, at the start of the covid-19 pandemic, Facebook removed a post from Bolsonaro's official account where it mentioned chloroquine as a possible treatment against the new coronavirus and spoke out against social distancing.
Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, vice chairman of the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission investigating the government's handling of the pandemic, said on Twitter on October 25 that President Bolsonaro's "absurd and false statement" would be included in the commission's final report.
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The senator also sent a request that the Supreme Court require Bolsonaro to apologize for his statement, consider banning the president from social media.
Rodrigues also wants Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube to consider suspending or banning the president's accounts on these platforms.
President Bolsonaro has presented his weekly broadcast on Facebook since March 2019, two months after he took office.
On several occasions, it has used the platform to spread unconfirmed or dubious allegations about COVID-19, according to local fact-checking agencies.
In April 2021, YouTube removed four videos from President Bolsonaro's channel on the platform that endorsed drugs without proven efficacy against covid-19.
The Google-owned video platform has not removed Bolsonaro's video linking vaccines to HIV infection.
FacebookJair Bolsonaro