At the time, it was absolutely misinformation. That it may actually be true doesn’t make it less so.

What? It was misinformation then but it might be true so its ok now? That means it wasn't misinformation then either.

Also who decides what is misinformation?

If I claim that aliens are manipulating our weather and that proof exists, when it doesn’t, that is misinformation. There is no evidence to support my claim, and it is wrong, even if I believe it to be true. If aliens show up tomorrow and announce they have been messing with the weather, then we have the evidence and it is true, but I was still spreading misinformation.

There was once this crank who claimed the Earth orbited the Sun, and not the other way around...

That was misinformation too, no?

No. He had evidence, based on direct observation. The claims made at the time with Covid and the lab leak theory had no evidence and were made entirely for political purposes.

Any unsubstantiated claims presented as fact are misinformation, and when that misinformation is causing mental and physical harm, keeping it off your platform is the easy, correct decision.

I'm not sure if you remember, but the early lab leak suggestions were leading to a lot of abuse, threats, and in some cases even violence towards people of Asian decent.

While Twitter, a private company, censored posts, Biden's White House said that they wouldn't rule out any possibility, including the virus being leaked on purpose.

He also ordered US spy agencies to do an investigation into the lab leak hypothesis.

"The left" wasn't denying anything. It just wasn't willing to jump to conclusions prematurely. Trying to rebrand it as "The China Virus" was a transparent attempt to focus blame and hate in a particular direction.

Interesting you just ignored the direct quote I gave of Fauci asking the NIH to put it down.

I'm pretty sure Twitter had pressure from the Virality Project which worked with Stanford and federal agencies so I think it's disingenuous to act as if they weren't denying anything or trying to play it down.

The China Virus thing has nothing to do with what I said

Your "direct quote" doesn't exist. So you may want to get your facts in order, especially if you're going to argue that it portrays something it clearly does not.

In fact, it's the opposite of what you were asserting.

Early on, virologists Michael Farzan and Robert Garry were on a call with Fauci and Collins about the potential that the virus could've leaked.

Following that, Fauci's released emails (another correction, since you called them "leaked") was part of a chain between him and Collins:

> Wondering if there is something NIH can do to help put down this very destructive conspiracy.

- Collins, April 16, 2020.

> I would not do anything about this right now. It is a shiny object that will go away in times.

- Fauci's response

What's more, Robert Garry clarified it further:

> One thing that could be misconstrued is that neither Dr Fauci or Dr Collins suggested in any way that we not write the Proximal Origin paper. Likewise, neither one suggested that we not mention the possibility of a Lab origin.

I hope that helps you put things in proper order.