Missouri and Louisiana attorneys general are suing federal government figures for suppressing and censoring COVID-19 information. Meta (Facebook’s parent company), YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn have received subpoenas from third parties (they are ordered to appear in court).
The lawsuit was initiated by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry
…requests all communications with Mark Zuckerberg from January 1, 2020 to the present. Also requested was any communication with any social media platform regarding the “Great Barrington Statement,” a letter published in October 2020. The letter was released in response to COVID-19 policies that recommended “focused protection,” an approach for achieving herd immunity allowing those at minimal risk of death to live normal lives by building immunity through natural infection while protecting those at higher risk.
“In May, Missouri and Louisiana filed a landmark lawsuit against high-ranking Biden Administration officials for allegedly colluding with social media giants to suppress free speech on topics like COVID-19 and election security,” Schmitt said in a statement.
Joe Mueller“Fauci, Biden Officials Served Subpoenas in Suit for Collusion to Suppress Free Speech” at KPVI (July 20, 2022)
For Big Social Media, big fines are a chance to fix their pocket change. But the litigants mostly want documents that shed light on patterns of suppression of information about COVID:
The lawsuit accuses government officials of working with Twitter and other major social media networks to suppress factual information on numerous topics, including COVID-19.
One example described is how Fauci, the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, held a secret meeting with scientists who soon after tried to discredit the theory that the virus that causes COVID-19 came from a Chinese laboratory. At the same time, Fauci, who has repeatedly cast doubt on the so-called lab leak theory and whose agency funded research at the lab in Wuhan, China, was exchanging messages with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about how COVID-19 information on social media was addressed…
The documents refer to how Jen Psaki, Jean-Pierre’s predecessor, told a briefing in July 2021 that officials are “in regular contact with these social media platforms” and that “we are reporting problematic posts to Facebook that spread misinformation “.
Zachary Stieber“Fauci, other US officials indicted for alleged collusion to suppress free speech” at The Times Era (July 21, 2022)
In related news, in May, the U.S. government’s proposed Government Disinformation Board — which would work with Big Social Media to crack down on “disinformation” — was suspended amid widespread criticism. It later emerged that, contrary to claims, the Board was intended to spy on Americans as well as others.
But how about a crush on Big Social Media for once?
Sympathy? ABOUT they? This is in very short supply these days. But in fairness, one of the problems for these firms – running global businesses that are larger than many countries – is dealing with the wildly different demands of sovereign governments.
Take Twitter, for example. As we just saw, state attorneys general are suing Twitter for engaging in censorship. Meanwhile, Twitter is suing the Indian government because it wants to more censorship from what Twitter is about to offer. In fact, governments around the world had pressured Twitter to censor more, according to the 2020 transparency report.
Meanwhile, Canadian billionaire philanthropist Frank Giustra is suing Twitter for allowing defamation. Here’s the tracker: Canada has nothing like Section 230 of this article The Law on Communication Etiquette, which, in the United States, Twitter can rely on for protection. At the same time, other governments, such as Poland and the state of Florida, have introduced legislation mandating more free speech for residents on Twitter. Also note that Florida, Missouri and Louisiana are taking action on free speech at the same time the US federal government wants a Disinformation Board.
It may be a fundamental structural weakness for global businesses that they cannot address every cultural demand everywhere and thus are bound to be in hot water in different countries for different reasons.
Like the rest of summer, it gets hotter from here on out.
You may also want to read: Google’s most ambitious project yet: Reshaping your thinking. Controlling so much communication—and driven by ideology—is in a better position to do so than many assume. Joel Kotkin: Google — an information censor and connected to the government — is much less popular now, even though it has much more control over what you can know.
