Facebook’s parent company Meta gave the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) de facto access to its platforms to censor so-called “misinformation,” newly emerged emails show.
The company allowed officials from the federal health agency to effectively police content on Facebook and Instagram.
In what some are calling the “Facebook Files,” the revelation was revealed in confidential emails that emerged thanks to a court case – the state of Missouri suing the Biden administration.
The emails show that Facebook and Instagram representatives and the CDC not only kept in touch at all times, but that the Big Tech giant also “routinely asked government health officials to vet claims relating to the virus, mitigation efforts such as masks, and vaccines.”
In turn, the CDC kept a watchful eye on what speech was allowed on Facebook.
It also decided on what policies toward censorship of “inconvenient” Covid topics applied.
The taxpayer-funded agency had no problem instructing the social network behemoth how to behave in these instances.
Robbie Soave, a senior editor for Reason, revealed some examples of what was happening in a series of tweets citing the emails and providing screenshots.
One shows that in May 2021, CDC started to get involved in “vetting” content on Facebook that concerns Covid vaccines.
And CDC had the last word on what was allowed to remain online as “accurate.”
Other emails show that Facebook (Meta) made sure the CDC was given de facto power to police Covid “misinformation.”
At the same time, Facebook was flagging content for the CDC and consulting with the agency on claims that could “contribute to vaccine refusals.”
3. For instance, in May 2021, CDC officials began routinely vetting claims about COVID-19 vaccines that had appeared on Facebook. The platform left it up to the federal government to determine which assertions were accurate. pic.twitter.com/0QDrxXG7iE
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) January 19, 2023
6. Claims vetted by the CDC included whether "COVID-19 is man-made." The CDC told Facebook that it was "theoretically possible, but extremely unlikely." pic.twitter.com/7YvlQXTSXD
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) January 19, 2023
7. By July 2021, the CDC wasn't just evaluating which claims it thought were false, but whether they could "cause harm." pic.twitter.com/eBmyZHlm0x
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) January 19, 2023
9. Meta also provided the CDC with a list of new claims about vaccines and asked whether the government thought they could "contribute to vaccine refusals." The CDC determined that this label applied to all such claims. pic.twitter.com/VYUJD1tP9G
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) January 19, 2023
11. Meta also kept the CDC apprised of criticism of Anthony Fauci. One email warned the CDC that Facebook users were mocking Fauci for changing his mind about masking and double-masking. The CDC replied that this information was "very helpful." pic.twitter.com/CUM5wwORtM
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) January 19, 2023
At the same time, Soave acknowledges that this was by no means the only federal agency to engage in similar activities.
It is all aimed at pressuring some of the world’s biggest social platforms to allow only a certain narrative and discredit any skepticism, even that coming from medical professionals and scientists.
Democrat President Joe Biden made sure to “contribute” to this effort, when he in June 2021 bizarrely accused Facebook of “killing people.”
This was really meant to say that the giant had better not dare allow any Covid content the White House failed to “vet” behind the scenes – one way or another.
And the giant obliged, sometimes probably even exceeding the level of compliance expected from the administration.
An internal email now reveals that Facebook went as far as to “snitch” on its own users making fun of Anthony Fauci, apparently in a bid to defend his reputation – again, at the expense of free speech.
“One email warned the CDC that Facebook users were mocking Fauci for changing his mind about masking and double-masking,” Soave, the magazine’s senior editor and host on The Hill TV channel, tweeted.
“The CDC replied that this information was ‘very helpful’.
The upcoming, March issue of Reason delves into how the CDC turned into the speech police when it came to pressuring social media to block content that the government agency decided was Covid “misinformation.”
And this was online speech that this, and other government agencies, have no constitutional way of directly suppressing without breaking the law.
“There is a word for government officials using the threat of punishment to extort desired behaviors from private actors,” Soave remarked in one of the tweets.
“That word is: jawboning.”
If nothing else, these emails now show just how gun-shy and ready to please those in power Facebook had become after years of public vilification.
Who knows what kind of pressure there was behind the scenes in the wake of the 2016 U.S. election.
