Censorship

Covid censorship was wrong and I wish I’d fought it, Mark Zuckerberg Facebook founder claims White House ‘repeatedly pressured’ his social media giant to censor posts Headline from BBC Zuckerberg regrets bowing to Biden ’pressure’ over Covid Headline from Politico Zuckerberg says he regrets caving to White House pressure on content Headline from Washington Post Zuckerberg expresses regrets over covid misinformation crackdown Link to the letter Mark Zuckerberg Facebook and Instagram were wrong to censor posts about Covid during the pandemic, and that the company should have fought pressure from the Biden administration. During the pandemic Facebook added misinformation alerts It also deleted posts criticising the Covid vaccine, or Lab leak thinking House Judiciary Committee Mr Zuckerberg’s admissions a “big win for free speech”. How Zuckerberg censored Covid on Facebook Social media giant regularly bowed to White House pressure to remove anti-vaccine posts In Britain and America, government departments, had privately put pressure on Mark Zuckerberg’s social media giant to limit the spread of anti-vaccine posts or messages questioning Covid’s origins. July 2021, Mr. Biden “They’re killing people,” “The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people.” Sir Nick Clegg “The behaviour of the [White House] over the last 24 hours has been highly cynical and dishonest.” Sir Nick refused to take down a meme featuring Leonardo DiCaprio joking that in 10 years those who had taken the vaccine could be entitled to compensation. August 2020 Facebook removes Donald Trump post in which he claims that children are “almost immune” to illness from Covid-19 February 2021 Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Instagram account is removed for “sharing debunked claims” about Covid April 2021 Under pressure from White House, Facebook demotes video in which Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson questioned the effectiveness of Covid vaccines despite the post not breaking rules Matt Hancock sent Sir Nick a WhatsApp: “Your team have been working really well with the department and the advertising ban is great – but we need to have a timeframe for removal of anti-vax material and how to demonetise.” UK The Counter-Disinformation Unit A secretive government agency used to “spy on” anti-lockdown campaigners during the Covid pandemic The Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU) Set up in March 2020 to combat “false coronavirus information online” now named, National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT) Big Brother Watch Described the Counter Disinformation Unit “one of the most opaque units in Government outside the security services” and accused it of “spying on” free speech. On PDF WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH But actually, he thought as he re-adjusted the Ministry of Plenty’s figures, it was not even forgery. It was merely the substitution of one piece of nonsense for another.