Cuomo violates Twitter policy by questioning health experts' guidance—Twitter doesn't seem to care

When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo expressed his sentiment that the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) were incorrect in their assessment that less COVID-19 testing is preferable, his tweet remained clear, without a warning from Twitter's fact checkers. Will Twitter take action or do these rules only apply to Trump and regular people?

The CDC stated that those who are close to someone who tests positive for the virus does not need to get tested themselves. This is a reversal of earlier guidance calling for an increase in testing, but there have been many reversals and revisions to guidance, from both the CDC and the World Health Organization. Yet the WHO is the group that Facebook uses to parse coronavirus fact from fiction.

Twitter's new policies regarding censorship and content restrictions on the platform explicitly state that with regard to the COVID-19 coronavirus, information that goes against expert advice will not be tolerated. Yet—

As the coronavirus swept mercilessly through New York City, it was Cuomo's expert opinion that those with COVID-19 should be housed in nursing homes amongst a vulnerable population. Clearly, that makes him not an expert in the coronavirus contagion.

Aaron Rupar, who is also not an expert in disease control and prevention but instead writes for Vox, contended that it was not the CDC's expert opinion that testing was less necessary than had previously been suspected. Instead he speculated that the agency is being unduly influenced by propaganda from the Trump administration.

While Rupar does not present proof of his claim that the president is behind the revised medical opinion of the CDC, he has also not been issued a fact-check or misinformation warning label from Twitter.

Earlier in the pandemic, Rupar took issue with Trump's unwillingness to take guidance from the World Health Organization at face value, despite WHO flip-flopping on recommendations, just as Rupar now refuses to take CDC expert advice at face value.

The change in guidelines was hard for some people to swallow, and CNN claimed that the CDC was pressured into adjusting their guidelines. CNN, Rupar, and Cuomo are so sure that the president is behind these recommendations that they refuse to believe the CDC.

However, Rupar, CNN, and Cuomo are not experts with the CDC, and per Twitter's guidelines, it is the opinion of those illustrious experts whose advice should be heeded by the American public, and not randoms on Twitter, who should be believed.

Just as Cuomo, Rupar, and CNN complained about the CDC reversing its guidance, claiming that it makes no sense, other public health officials have also made similarly contradictory claims.

Cuomo endorsed the mass gatherings of protestors in New York despite having shut down the rest of the city and state to weddings, funerals, parties, picnics, or anything else that would have given New Yorkers joy.

Cuomo and Rupar both came out in favour of the protests. And experts in public health advocated for the protests. A group of 1,200 of them signed a letter to that effect, which forced The Atlantic to run a story stating that "public-health experts are not hypocrites" and that "health is about more than simply remaining free of coronavirus infection."

Twitter's inaction on labeling as misinformation tweets that call the US Centers' for Disease Control guidance into question shows that the fact-checkers at Twitter have an agenda that goes above and beyond the determination of truth, but determines what truth is based on the identity of the speaker.