Major social media companies are taking aim at Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's dismissal of social distancing, joining others in the country who have lined up against his controversial stance regarding the new coronavirus.

Facebook and Instagram removed posts by the far-right leader Monday night that showed Bolsonaro walking around outside capital Brasilia on Sunday and mingling with groups. It was yet another affront to World Health Organization recommendations to self-isolate as a means to contain the pandemic. The companies' move came one day after Twitter also removed some Bolsonaro posts.

Facebook, which owns Instagram, said in a statement that it removes content "that violates our community standards, which do not allow disinformation that might cause real damage to people."

Twitter justified its decision by saying in a statement that its rules prohibit content that runs "against public health information given by official sources and can put people at greater risk of transmitting COVID-19."

Bolsonaro is one of few world leaders who say the virus itself will cause less harm than shutting down the economy. In a national address Tuesday night, while repeating that same argument, he changed his rhetoric, calling the pandemic he once described as "a little flu" as "the biggest challenge of our generation." His speech was met with pot-banging protests for the 15th night in a row.

His defiance has received vocal backing from supporters — both on social media and in several cities where they staged demonstrations demanding life return to normal — but his attitude has also been rejected by mayors, state governors and judges. Even some members of Bolsonaro's own administration have insisted on broad lockdown measures that run contrary to his statements.

Last Thursday, Bolsonaro issued a decree that added religious activities to the list of "essential services," meaning churches could remain open even though governors had banned large gatherings. The decree was overruled by a federal court the following day.

Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurélio Mello authorized an opposition lawmaker's request for Bolsonaro's own prosecutor general to investigate an alleged crime committed by the president, the Supreme Court's website said Tuesday. The allegation of endangering the public is based on Bolsonaro encouraging people to disobey isolation measures, calling concern over the pandemic "hysteria" and characterizing the virus itself as "a little cold." The judge's action requires the prosecutor general to issue a legal opinion.

In an interview with the newspaper O Globo, Prosecutor General Augusto Aras said that Bolsonaro is free to express his opinion and go out in public so long as he doesn't issue any official decrees that counter broad lockdown guidelines, which could tread into territory that requires legal evaluation.

Despite the president's open skepticism, senior members of his own Cabinet have insisted on hewing closely to guidelines recommended by international health authorities. "Always technical, always scientific, always doing the maximum we can to preserve lives," Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta told reporters on Monday.

On Tuesday, Brazil's health ministry reported 5,717 cases of Covid-19 and 201 deaths, the largest figures in Latin America. That included more than 1,100 new cases since the prior day — by far Brazil's biggest single-day increase yet.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially the elderly and people with preexisting health conditions, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

Bolsonaro has 12 million followers on Facebook, almost 16 million on Instagram and more than 6 million on Twitter. Social media was key for his election victory in 2018.

Twitter recently deleted posts from Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro for sharing speculation about possible unusual cures for Covid-19.

Facebook says a bug in its anti-spam system is blocking the publication of links to news stories about the coronavirus. Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity, said on Twitter Tuesday that the company is working on fixing the problem.

Users are complaining that links to news stories about school closings and other information related to the virus outbreak being blocked by the company's automated system.

Rosen said the problems are unrelated to any changes to its content moderator workforce. The company reportedly sent its human moderators home this week.

A representative for Facebook did not immediately respond to questions on the status of Facebook's content moderators, many of whom do not work directly for the company and are not always able to work from home.

Twitter shares rose Monday following reports an activist investor took a stake in the social media service and plans to push for changes.

Elliott Management Corp. has taken a $1 billion stake in the company and plans to nominate four directors to the board, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Wall Street Journal reported the plans on Saturday, also citing an unnamed person. Elliott could be seeking to replace founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, according to the Journal report.

Twitter has lagged behind other tech powerhouses like Facebook and Google in terms of user growth and advertising revenue. Dorsey left the company to start payments company Square, but returned in 2015. Now he splits his time between Square and Twitter. Dorsey has also tweeted that he would spend three to six months in Africa this year, leading some to question who would be running Twitter.

In February the company reported fourth-quarter user numbers that exceeded expectations, but profit still fell as expenses rose. Twitter and other social media companies have been spending more to step up efforts to remove misinformation, abuse, hate speech and spam.

Twitter and Elliott Management declined to comment.

Shares jumped $2.78, or 8%, to $35.99 in midday trading Monday.

Founded in 1977 by Republican billionaire Paul Singer, Elliott has stakes in or owns a wide array of organizations including bookseller Barnes & Noble and soccer team AC Milan.

Elliott is known for pushing for changes at companies it invests in. In September  it took a 1% stake in AT&T and advocated for selling assets and paying down debt. AT&T eventually agreed to look for more parts of its business to sell off and add two new board members. Elliott also advocated for changes at eBay, and the CEO of that company, Devin Wenig, stepped down  in September.

Do you love posting photos or videos on Instagram frequently while wearing a new shirt, or cooking a new recipe, or visiting an awesome restaurant, or exploring nature? Posting contents on Instagram, you can easily get some likes and/comments from the people you know. These engagements may give you some temporary excitement adding no monetary value in your real life. What if, you can utilize Instagram to upgrade your lifestyle in addition to entertainment? Let’s talk about how to make money from Instagram.

How to Create Earning Potential from Instagram

Millions of people are posting contents on Instagram every hour. Can everybody make money from it? Before you think about earning money from Instagram, you have to build a potential Instagram account.

● How to Open an Instagram Account?

Starting the journey from October 2010, Instagram (also known as Insta) was initially downloadable only from iOS. But since 2012, the Instagram app is available in Android and Windows OS. So, you can easily download Instagram app from the internet and create a profile. All you need is a well functional Smartphone with a speedier internet connection. While opening an account choose a username that well represents your niche. Now how to choose your niche?

● Define Your Niche

If you post photos/videos randomly on different issues, products and facts, your profile may get followers. But it won’t create a customer base. To get connected with like-minded people on Instagram, you need to pick a definite niche. You can pick a niche following your passion, like travelling, fashion, cooking, Yoga, etc. If you have any specific skill, like writing, programming, etc., then you can choose that field as your niche. Besides this, your local business can be your niche. When you know your niche, you can post related contents on Instagram and engage with people bearing similar interest on that niche.

● Make Your Profile Look Professional

However, without a professional outlook, your profile can hardly attract an audience beyond your circle.  Now how to make your Instagram profile look unique and professional? While opening an account in Instagram, you will find several options including, Profile Picture, Username, Website Link, and Bio. Each of these options is valuable for creating an attractive Insta profile. For instance, choose a valid – not taken by other members – Username which will help people find your niche from the Insta search.  Then, if you have any personal/business website, put that link in your Insta profile. In the bio section, you can write a short biography which will inform the audience about your persona, knowledge and experience.

● Gain Trust & Authority

Everyday millions of people are posting photos/videos on Instagram, but few of them can convert those contents into money. It doesn’t matter how many likes/comments/followers you get, it will all go in vain, if your followers don’t trust your words and/or actions. Now how to gain the trust? The key is to add value to the community. For example, you have chosen digital marketing as your niche. Now you can post helpful videos, and info-graphs regarding this niche. Your contents can help the Instagram users who are interested about Digital Marketing. Thus, you can create an authority for your niche.

● Get Organic Traffic

Many Instagramers think that huge investment is needed to get followers on Instagram. However, fake/paid followers have nothing/little to do with your earning on Insta. Managing organic followers are the best way to develop a brand and gain the potentiality of earning. Now how to Get Followers Organically? The key strategy is building community engagement.

In simple words, you have to do some research on your niche to get some ideas about what people are looking for. Try to find problems that people are talking about. And try to offer some solutions as tips, tricks, guidelines, etc. Learn how to create more engaging posts regarding those topics. Make sure your content adds value to your Insta followers in their real life. 

● Create Community Engagement

There is another misconception that you need about ten thousands of followers to make a handsome amount from Instagram. Surprisingly, the reality is different! If you can reach the target people, you get high chance to convert your contents into money. To engage with the community, you can interact with your viewers/followers through the comment section. You can also visit other Instagram profiles regarding your niche, follow their posts, and leave value adding comments in those contents. Following those comments, some audience can visit your Instagram profile.

● Input Keywords with Hashtag

When you post a photo and/or video content in your Instagram profile, find some relevant keywords. You can do keyword research through free/paid tools, like Keyword Revealer, Long Tail Pro, etc. Then input those keywords below your content. Don’t forget to put Hashtag “#” with each keyword. You might know Hashtags work like magic in connecting your content organically with the wide audience of Insta. For instance, when you post any content in Instagram regarding digital marketing with hash tags like “#DigitalMarketingTips”, Instagram’s search algorithm is supposed to show your content to viewers who inputs any query about “#DigitalMarketing”.

How to Make Money from Instagram

When you have successfully built a professional Instagarm profile enriched with value-adding contents as well as organic followers, your profile is ready to step towards monetization.

● Share Affiliate Links

Nowadays, diverse reputed e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Wal-Mart, etc. are offering Affiliate Programs. Besides these, many local Brands offer affiliate commission for selling products. Now how does it work? If you post a photo wearing a T Shirt of “X” company, then put the product link in the description. A single click on this link will take the viewer to the website/product page of “X” company. When any viewer buys that product, you will earn a definite amount of affiliate commission offered by the “X” company. Usually, the rate of affiliate commission varies from 4 to 10 percent depending on the respective company rules and product category.

● Post Sponsored Content

When your Instagram profile earns a considerable number of followers, you can apply for Paid Partnership with different reputed brands. Then you can post sponsored contents and earn money. It is a common trend that celebrities take lump sum for posting sponsored reviews. To attract the sponsor, you have to grow a trustworthy Instagram account so that people want to listen to what you say and/or display.

● Promote Your Own Local Business

If you own a local business, Instagram can be a great platform for promoting your products/services to a wide community. Like Facebook, Instagram is a powerful social media platform to aware people about your online business.  However, don’t try to sell products right after building your profile.

Before you dive into monetization, take some time to build a brand value and create community engagement. Post some how-to contents regarding your business-niche to help your audience. For instance, if you own a pet store, work on ‘Pet’ niche in Instagram. First, invest several months for continuously posting photos and/or video regarding various pet issues. Then, try to introduce your pet products to your viewers and tell them where they can buy those products. Thus you can promote your physical stores and/or online sales page.

● Sell Digital Products

What if you don’t have any physical store and/or online business, and your follower number is not big enough to attract the brands for publishing sponsored content, but you still want to make money from Instagram. Yes, it is highly possible! Instead of products, you can sell your skill.

Suppose, you have proficiency in Digital Marketing, now you can post several helpful videos on Instagram to teach people Digital Marketing free of cost. Later, you can launch a paid video series to teach advanced level strategies of “Digital Marketing”. You can sell diverse kinds of digital products like eBook, Digital Marketing Package Service, etc.

Final Thoughts

The American Photo/Video sharing Platform Instagram has gained worldwide popularity among people of different age, race, and religion. Beyond social networking, Insta can be a potential source to make a stable income. First, pick a definite niche following your passion, skill or business. Then, share helpful contents to enlighten the audience. Make your Insta Profile look professional. Work continuously, until your profile creates community engagement and gains trust of your followers. If you can create brand value, you would be able to make money through affiliation, sponsored posts, selling digital products, and promoting local business to your audience. On the whole, take Instagram as a platform for both helping people and feeding your wallet.

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Read: How to Earn Money from Facebook?

Facebook decided Friday to allow a type of paid political message that had sidestepped many of the social network's rules governing political ads, in a reversal that highlights difficulties tech companies and regulators have in keeping up with the changing nature of paid political messages.

Its policy change comes days after presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg exploited a loophole to run humorous messages promoting his campaign on the accounts of popular Instagram personalities followed by millions of younger people.

It used to be clearer what's an ad and what isn't — and thus what's subject to disclosures and other rules. With social media, a campaign can pay celebrities and other influential users to spread a message on their behalf, without ever buying an ad and be subject to its rules.

"This is a new kind of activity that simply didn't exist when the rules for internet political communications were last updated," said Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub of the Federal Election Commission.

The change involves what Facebook calls "branded content" — sponsored items posted by ordinary users who are typically paid by companies or organizations. Advertisers pay the influential users directly to post about their brand.

Facebook makes no money from such posts and does not consider them advertising. As a result, branded content isn't governed by Facebook's advertising policies, which require candidates and campaigns to verify their identity with a U.S. ID or mailing address and disclose how much they spent running each ad.

Until Friday, Facebook tried to deter campaigns from using such branded content by barring them from using a tool designed to help advertisers run such posts on Facebook and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. Friday's rule change will now allow campaigns in the U.S. to use this tool, provided they've been authorized by Facebook to run political ads and disclose who paid for the sponsored posts.

"After hearing from multiple campaigns, we agree that there's a place for branded content in political discussion on our platforms," Facebook said in an exclusive statement to The Associated Press. "We're allowing U.S.-based political candidates to work with creators to run this content."

Politicians still won't be required to disclose how much it paid the influencers to run the posts.

The Bloomberg campaign had taken the unconventional step of paying social media influencers — individuals with huge followings — to post Bloomberg memes using their Instagram accounts. Different versions of the sponsored posts from the Bloomberg campaign ran on more than a dozen influential Instagram accounts, each of which have millions of followers.

That effort skirted many of the rules that tech companies have imposed on political ads to safeguard U.S. elections from malicious foreign and domestic interference and misinformation. Online political ads have been controversial, especially after it was revealed Russia used them in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election. In response, Facebook has rolled out a number of rules to prevent a repeat of that, though it has declined to fact-check political ads and refuses to ban even blatently false messages.

The Bloomberg campaign's memes showed the 78-year-old candidate, in a tongue-in-cheek awkward fashion, chatting with popular social media influencers with names like "Tank Sinatra," asking them to help him raise his profile among younger folk.

"Can you post a meme that lets everyone know I'm the cool candidate?" Bloomberg wrote in one of the exchanges posted by an account called F(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk) Jerry, which has nearly 15 million followers on Instagram. The candidate then sent a photo of him wearing baggy chino shorts, an orange polo and a zip-up vest.

F(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk) Jerry's account then replied, "Ooof that will cost like a billion dollars." Bloomberg responded by asking where to send the money.

With the sponsored posts, Bloomberg's campaign said it was reaching those who might not be normally interested in the day-to-day of politics.

"You want to engage people at every platform and you want them to feel like they're not just getting a canned generic statement," campaign spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said of the campaign's strategy.

The Bloomberg posts weren't much more than self-deprecating humor used to sell a candidate's old guy appeal, using a tactic that until now was largely used to sell skin care products or clothing-subscription services. But the lack of oversight and clear rules around influencer marketing, not to mention their effectiveness in reaching younger audiences, makes them ripe for misuse.

It's not yet clear if Facebook's sudden policy change will close all the loopholes, though the company says the issue represents a new territory and its approach could change over time. The same goes for regulation, too, which is even further behind than the tech companies.

The Bloomberg campaign declined to say how much it paid for the sponsored posts, or if it had more of them in the works. The posts did not appear in Facebook's ad transparency library, which catalogs the political ads that campaigns buy directly from Facebook or Instagram, and tells users how much was spent on them. Bloomberg's campaign told the AP on Thursday that Instagram did noty require the campaign to disclose that information on the sponsored posts it ran earlier this week. With Friday's change, the campaign would need to add the posts to the library, though it still wouldn't need to disclose spending amounts.