by Ailan Evans
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy sent a formal request for information Thursday to major tech companies demanding data on “misinformation” related to the COVID-19 vaccine and the virus itself, The New York Times reported.
The request demanded the companies provide data on “exactly how many users saw or may have been exposed to instances of Covid-19 misinformation,” as well as the particular demographics most affected by misleading information, according to the NYT. Murthy also reportedly demanded data on the sources of COVID-19 misinformation, particularly related to discredited treatments for the virus.
“Technology companies now have the opportunity to be open and transparent with the American people about the misinformation on their platforms,” Murthy told the NYT. “This is about protecting the nation’s health.”
The move follows a “misinformation advisory” released by the Office of the Surgeon General in July 2021 alleging that “product features built into technology platforms have contributed to the spread of misinformation.”
“These features help connect and inform people but reward engagement rather than accuracy, allowing emotionally charged misinformation to spread more easily than emotionally neutral content,” Murthy wrote of the “misinformation advisory.”
The Biden administration has repeatedly pushed to crack down on misinformation, particularly related to COVID-19, with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki revealing in July 2021 that the administration was working with Facebook to identify misleading posts.
Companies have until May 2 to comply with the request, according to the NYT.
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Ailan Evans is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
The following is a brief ‘snippet’ from Surgeon General Murthy’s bio. People cannot make ‘good’ decisions without ‘good’ information.
Dr. Murthy was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, U.K., to immigrants from Karnataka, India. He is the grandson of the late H. C. Narayana Murthy, the former director of Mysore Sugar Company, and he is the son of Florida-based physicians Dr. H. N. Lakshminarasimha Murthy and Dr. Maithreya Murthy. In 1978, the family crossed the Atlantic to Newfoundland, Canada, where his father worked as a district medical officer. When he was three years old, the family relocated to Miami, Florida.
There is not much evidence from the foregoing family history of a tradition for Dr. Murthy’s family respecting U.S. First Amendment freedom of speech liberties (i.e., from India, to the U.K., to Canada, before coming to the U.S. just forty-four years ago). Of course, the same is also true for many other Biden Administration officials which we now know have been calling upon and demanding that private officials in Big Tech and Social Media companies to do whatever is necessary ‘to cancel’ U.S. citizens’ First Amendment free speech liberties—something which these same government officials cannot legally do themselves as government officials under decades and decades of SCOTUS decisions. This is what these Marxist Democrats now openly and unapologetically do.
In my opinion, this is just ANOTHER ground for the impeachment of the Pretender Resident and the Pretender Vice-Resident of the United States.
What a clown. Washington is a total clown show at this time.
What a joke! The federal government is/was the greatest source of misinformation about the chinese virus.