Mainstream media brushed aside the news of the White House and Big Tech working together to censor social media. Only right leaning outlets sounded the alarm.
Summary
Reporting on the Biden administration’s “new pushback on misinformation” widely focused on U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s admonition of “bad actors” posting “COVID-19 misinformation” on social media.
- Murthy criticized social media companies for having “enabled misinformation.”
- Axios characterized the Surgeon General’s advisory as significant because normally advisories from that office focus on “urgent public health threats”, saying Murthy now thinks “health misinformation now falls under that category.”
- The White House has reportedly “sent proposed changes” to social media companies to “further combat the spread of misinformation.”
- CNN framed the story as the Biden administration taking on “dangerous falsehoods” about coronavirus vaccines and confronting Facebook for “not acting fast enough” to remove content.
- Vox focused on Murthy’s comments and responses from social media giants Twitter and YouTube, with YouTube saying they purposely elevate “authoritative content for COVID-19 related search results.”
- Newsweek reported on the right’s reaction to the news that the White House is working with social media companies in “flagging problematic posts.”
- RealClearPolitics focused squarely on the “revelation” of the White House and Facebook “working in coordination” to police COVID-19-related posts.
- The Washington Times reported on White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s remarks, saying critics of the collaboration between big government and big tech are comparing it to George Orwell’s “1984.”
- RedState broke down and criticized Psaki’s further comments in which she said the federal government is “trying to get Facebook” to prioritize “trusted content” and “quality information”, i.e. – the information the government wants.
Author’s Take
Big Brother is officially here. This. Should. Terrify. Everyone.
Government has no business policing speech. Just like ending the filibuster, the left does not understand that one day, the shoe will be on the other foot. They will not be in power and they’re opening the door for the possibility of a Republican-controlled government to use the tactics they just sanctioned.
Just a few days ago, the Associated Press tweeted “As Cubans took to the streets to protest the country’s worst economic crisis in decades, authorities blocked social media sites. It’s a tried-and-true method of stifling dissent by authoritarian regimes around the world.” Functionally, how is that any different than what the White House just admitted? Why would we trust any government with this much power?
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© Dallas Gerber, 2021
