Information can be the difference between life and death. The coronavirus pandemic has underscored how important internet access is to protecting one’s own health, staying informed, and keeping in contact with family and friends. From the onset of COVID-19, however, political considerations clashed with concerns about public health and free expression.
Over the last two years, Tech companies and the government have collaborated to censor covid ‘misinformation.’ And since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been evident that the Democrats have abandoned free speech as an American institution.
Last July, Biden’s Surgeon General (USSG) Vivek Murthy stood in the White House press room in front of his liberal colleagues and declared free speech a serious national “health risk,” calling for a “whole-of-society” effort to combat the “urgent threat to public health” posed by “health misinformation.”
The liberal dictatorship curates the misinformation and disinformation drivel, which can be changed or modified at any time based on political expediency.
In other words, the Surgeon General is on a mission to eliminate free speech in America, and the Biden Regime has dispatched him to spearhead the latest effort to eliminate dissent, the Gateway Pundit reported.
According to reports, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is requesting information from tech companies about the spread of COVID-19 misinformation on their platforms.
The New York Times reported that it has reviewed a copy of the notice in which Murthy requests information by May 2 on “exactly how many users saw or may have been exposed to instances of Covid-19 misinformation,” as well as sources of “misinformation” and the demographics of those supposedly affected. The notice covers social media networks, internet search engines, crowdsourcing platforms, e-commerce websites, and even instant messaging services.
The request also reportedly asked for information about major sources of COVID-19 misinformation.
According to the New York Post:
“The notice asks the companies to submit “exactly how many users saw or may have been exposed to instances of Covid-19 misinformation,” as well as aggregate data on demographics that may have been disproportionately exposed to or affected by the misinformation.
The surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, also demanded information from the platforms about the major sources of Covid-19 misinformation, including those that engaged in the sale of unproven Covid-19 products, services, and treatments.
“Technology companies now have the opportunity to be open and transparent with the American people about the misinformation on their platforms,” Dr. Murthy said in an emailed statement. He added: “This is about protecting the nation’s health.”
Companies have until May 2 to submit the data. Denying requests for information does not carry a penalty, but the notice is the first formal request from the Biden administration of the tech companies to submit Covid-19 misinformation data, according to the surgeon general’s office.
Critics argue that such calls, which have been echoed by President Joe Biden, do not merely make the public aware of genuine falsehoods but are primarily intended to suppress and discredit legitimate information and open debate about the proper response to COVID-19, particularly on aspects of the pandemic and the ensuing policies that Democrats and their allies have been wrong about, including lockdowns, masks, COVID vaccines, natural immunity, and the lab-leak theory of COVID’s origins.
The collaboration between government and big tech to suppress the covid policy debate is a de facto Ministry of Truth.
Yesterday’s “misinformation” is today’s fact… Did lockdowns kill? How did the plexiglass, cloth masks, & 6 ft distancing work out? https://t.co/ecOhvKn5SN
— Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) March 3, 2022
Critics further argue that those entrusted with identifying “misinformation” actually abuse that power to peddle their own.
They argue that government officials openly calling for action against disfavored speech on social media complicates social networks’ presumed status as mere private entities exercising their own speech and property rights by effectively turning them into extensions of the government, which is constitutionally barred from infringing on freedom of speech.
The reason Jacob Sullum wrote:
“While Murthy himself has no power to compel disclosure of that information, the companies have strong incentives to cooperate, since the Biden administration can make life difficult for them by filing lawsuits, writing regulations, and supporting new legislation, Murthy’s [2021] advisory, which defines misinformation to include statements that he deems ‘misleading’ even when they are arguably or verifiably true, says the battle against it might include ‘appropriate legal and regulatory measures.’”
Sources: 100percentfedup, Deseret, Nytimes