Michigan's @GovWhitmer didn't actually reverse a non-existent policy banning hydroxychloroquine for COVID19 patients but Fox News (and others) didn't waste the chance to dissemble a Democratic administration's actual statement and intent for political purposes.
cc: @ZellaQuixote
cc: @ZellaQuixote
(Here's the memo from the MI Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs that's being misconstrued as a now-reversed gubernatorial decree banning hydroxycholoroquine - it's actually guidance intended to prevent a shortage that has now happened.)michigan.gov/documents/lara…
We downloaded tweets containing at least one term from each list, yielding 73726 tweets from 40972 accounts:
- malaria, malarial, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, hydrochoroquine (sic)
- michigan, Whitmer, "MI governor"
- coronavirus/COVID-19/rona/SARS-COV-2
- malaria, malarial, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, hydrochoroquine (sic)
- michigan, Whitmer, "MI governor"
- coronavirus/COVID-19/rona/SARS-COV-2
The first 20 tweets got interesting fast: in addition to the "@GovWhitmer banned #hydroxycholoroquine" narrative, we also found an account that apparently personally knows a COVID-19 patient cured by the drug, as well as an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about the virus' origin.
To the great surprise of probably no one, major right-wing accounts picked up both the false "ban" narrative and the subsequent imaginary "reversal" of stance by @GovWhitmer, with noteworthy contributions from @Liz_Wheeler, @MichaelCoudrey, and @ChuckWoolery. #WheelOfDeception
What media sources are linked from tweets mentioning coronavirus, @GovWhitmer, and #hydroxochloroquine? Other than two local newspapers, it's all right-wing media, with the largest share belonging to Gateway Pundit.
Finally, what hashtags show up in tweets mentioning coronavirus, @GovWhitmer, and #hydroxochloroquine? #coronavirus and #michigan take the top two spots, but much of the remainder consists of pro-Trump, anti-Democrat, and anti-China hashtags. #AltWankers
This isn’t the first time this political ploy has been used against a Democratic governor trying to protect its citizenry, btw. . .
