Facebook, Vaccines and Fact-Checking - The Search for the Truth Goes On

In light of the looming vaccinations for the SARS-CoV-2 virus and Big Tech's control of the COVID-19 pandemic narrative through its unfettered censorship powers, a recent lawsuit launched by the Children's Health Defense (CHD) is most pertinent.

 

As background, CHD is a non-profit organization that was founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and has become a leading independent child health protection and advocacy group.  It's mission is to provide the public with "timely and accurate vaccine and 5G and wireless technology safety information, particularly in the absence of any appreciable ongoing HHS or CDC research, any congressional oversight to reduce the risks of adverse reactions to vaccines or any reliable pharmaceutical industry research.  A key part of its mission is to end childhood epidemics by eliminating harmful toxic exposures and to hold those accountable who knobbly allow children to be unnecessarily exposed to dangerous toxins that destroy their health.

 

As additional background, Facebook's censorship activities against criticisms of vaccines began in March 2019 at the behest of Democratic Congressman and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff who asked Facebook to suppress and purge interest content that was critical of government (i.e. CDC among others) vaccine policies.  You can read more about the background to this story here.

 

Here is the announcement of the lawsuit from CHD's homepage:

 

 

Here is the lead page of the lawsuit outlining the plaintiffs and the defendants:

 

 

Here are the pages of the legal document outlining the issues that CHD has with Facebook and its censorship of viewpoints to which it does not agree:

 

 

CHD claims that "one of the titans of the internet age (Facebook) has exploited...new technology as an instrument to commit fraud and censorship".

 

Given that Mark Zuckerberg holds 53.3 percent of Facebook's publicly traded shares, he has sole power to both elect and remove directors from Facebook's Board of Directors and, since he directs and controls Facebook's business, is personally responsible for damages caused by his controlled entities' misconduct.  

 

According to the lawsuit, we find the following pertinent facts regarding Facebook's use of "fact-checking":

 

1.) Defendant Science Feedback is a French non-profit organization to which Facebook donates and which Facebook has specifically engaged as a "fact-checker" to flag selected content on CHD's Facebook page as "false information", insert oppositional articles in its place onCHD's page and divert users from CHD's own content on that false basis.

 

2.) Defendants The Poynter Institute for Media Studies and its wholly-owned subsidiary Politifact...which Facebook has employed as an additional "fact-checker" to flag selected content on CHD's Facebook page as "false information", inserting oppositional articles in its place on CHD's page and diverting users from CHD's own content on that false basis.  Facebook just happens to be a major donor to both Pioneer and Politifact.

 

Here is a screen capture from Poynter's website showing its major donors:

 

 

Here is a screen capture from Politifact's website showing its major donors:

 

 

This would clearly suggest that Facebook is hardly a benign entity when it comes to fact-checking its users' pages that it deems "false" and that its fact-checkers are far from independent.

 

Here are two examples of how Facebook has censored CHD:

 

 

According to the lawsuit, Facebook fails to inform its users that it has an advertising client relationship with Merck, Inc. (part of Big Pharma) along with other pharmaceutical companies.

 

It will now be up to the legal system to determine whether Facebook (and other social media platforms) should be the arbiter of truth and whether the government has the right to dictate its own business model to Big Tech.  This is particularly pertinent in the Age of COVID-19 when "facts" seem to be in the eye of the beholder.

 

For the rest of us, the never-ending search for the truth goes on.