FACEBOOK has lifted a ban on comments suggesting that Covid-19 was 'man-made' mere hours after Joe Biden gave credence to the idea.
Previously, any comments suggesting, inferring or directly stating that Covid had been leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, were immediately removed from the social media site.
Such notions were slapped with the 'conspiracy theory' tag, but now that the president has ordered a probe into the idea that it could be 'man-made', Facebook has performed a dramatic u-turn.
Biden has ordered the CIA to investigate whether or not the virus was man-made by China, and to report back to him in 90 days.
Facebook has been criticised over the past few months for being partisan, particularly in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, and the subsequent suspension of Donald Trump's account.
Critics will point to the glaring hypocrisy of Facebook's move, given that Trump had made similar suggestions of a lab leak in the past, which were immediately removed.
Some branded the website's behaviour "contemptible" and have demanded the platform respect free speech rather than "ingratiating" themselves with the likes of China.
Conservative MP Peter Bone told the Daily Mail: "It does seem to me that Facebook is not an open platform for people to put their view on. It is an open platform for people to put their view on as long as they agree with Facebook."
"Their decisions are based on politics, not on principle ... if it's fashionable with the liberal elite it can go down. If the liberal elite say it, it must be OK. If President Trump says it, it must be awful.
"The thing that Trump was saying is exactly the same thing Biden is saying, but Trump was according to Facebook not allowed to say that.
"It is one rule for one political view, and another for another."
