The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Census Bureau had direct access to Big Tech companies’ censorship tools, which were set up to allow government officials to control the Covid pandemic narrative online, newly unsealed emails have revealed.
Emails between an employee at the CDC and Twitter reveal that at least one CDC staff member and the US Census Bureau had access to Twitter’s dedicated “Partner Support Portal.”
The portal allows approved government officials and “stakeholders” to gain direct access to Twitter’s systems and flag content for censorship.
According to documents, government operatives were able to flag posts or users’ accounts that allegedly contained COVID-19 “misinformation.”
However, the portal didn’t appear to require submissions to include any supporting evidence to dispute the so-called “misinformation” and posts were removed simply for conflicting with the official narrative.
The emails were released by the nonprofit organization America First Legal (AFL).
AFL obtained through its litigation against the CDC.
They show a Twitter staff member enrolling a CDC employee into this portal through their personal account in May 2021.
Twitter’s Todd O’Boyle enrolled the CDC’s Carol Crawford in the portal after she sent an email labeled “COVID Misinformation.”
The email included links to several Twitter posts from people who had written about microchips and “vaccine shedding.”
O’Boyle described the channel as “the best way to get a spreadsheet like this reviewed.”
In his response, O’Boyle wrote that he agreed her submissions were “important trends to note” and assured her Twitter would review them.
On September 2, Crawford emailed O’Boyle about negative press that was being spread on Twitter regarding the CDC.
Crawford claimed that a report on a CDC “Lab alert” regarding PCR testing was allegedly “misinterpreted and was shared via social media.”
Crawford then flagged the hashtag “pcrtest” to be monitored.
Crawford also asked for Census Department officials to be able to use the Twitter portal to flag COVID-19 “misinformation,” according to the documents.
“Also, would there be any issues or complications stemming from flagging COVID misinformation on the portal using the existing census.gov accounts that have access?” Crawford wrote on May 24.
“In recent months, millions of Americans have witnessed the peeling of the ‘misinformation’ onion,” Gene Hamilton, AFL vice-president and general counsel, said in Tuesday’s press release.
“Beneath each layer of shocking details about a partnership between the federal government and Big Tech is yet another layer of connections, conspiracy, and collaboration between power centers that seek to suppress information from the American people.
“We are proud to play a leading role in fighting for the rights of all Americans and revealing this vital information to the American people.”
/1 🚨🦠BREAKING: Following the #TwitterFiles, AFL has obtained new documents uncovering a secret Twitter portal U.S. Govt officials used to censor dissenting COVID-19 views and violate the First Amendment.
Follow along for disturbing findings from the 500+ page release ⤵️— America First Legal (@America1stLegal) December 6, 2022
Tuesday’s announcement was the fourth set of documents AFL released about COVID-19 censorship.
The other sets released by AFL revealed additional information about how the government censored information about the COVID-19 pandemic, “built the evidentiary record showing that CDC specifically sent Facebook and Twitter-specific posts to take down, throttle, censor, or flag,” and linked the CDC’s guidelines on in-school mask mandates to “political polling by liberal dark money group The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF),” according to the press release.
KFF “is a nonprofit organization focusing on national health issues, as well as the U.S. role in global health policy,” according to its website.
KFF received funding from platforms including Google and Twitter and its officials have served in both the Biden and Obama administrations, a November AFL press release claimed.
Drew Altman, KFF president and CEO, claimed in an August 2021 email to Biden officials that mask mandates in school were popular.
He claimed that the portion of those who opposed the policy is “made up of the usual suspects” who are “large enough to make some trouble,” AFL revealed.
