STUDY: CensorTrack Documents Over 800 Cases of Big Tech Censoring COVID-19 Debate

Big Tech speech restrictions made COVID-19 the most pro-censorship U.S. environment since World War II. Media Research Center found over 800 instances of banned speech, deleted content and other restrictions related to this virus as well as the resultant vaccinations and policies.

MRC Free Speech America tallied a record 808 COVID-19 censorship cases across a number of Big Tech platforms from March 17, 2020 to February 3, 2022. This data was compiled in the CensorTrack database. These platforms included Facebook and Instagram as well Google Ads, TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn. These platforms were restricted to anyone, from scientists who are skeptical to journalists working in journalism to lawmakers concerned about their constituents.

Some of the most influential social media influencers are Joe Rogan (Podcaster), Mark Levin (conservative radio host), Tucker Carlson (Fox News) and Dan Bongino (radio conservative radio host). Rand Paul and Ron Johnson as well as news agencies from Fox News and Reason magazine. So are prominent academic journals, such as The British Medical Journal.

CensorTrack, an MRC database that tracks Big Tech censorship, is designed to provide proof. Over 3,318 cases have been recorded by the database team of Big Tech censorship across multiple platforms. These include cases involving elections, COVID-19 and climate change, as well as other issues like race, COVID-19, global warming, and gender. CensorTrack entries include a written report that is backed up with internal records and documents that show censorship. 

Facebook is the worst example of COVID-19 censorship. The platform deleted the Great Barrington Declaration’s account page. Prominent international disease experts developed the declaration to oppose harsh COVID-19 lockdowns imposed on citizens by many world governments, measures that were shown to have had “little to no effect” on COVID-19 mortality, according to a Johns Hopkins University study. 

Facebook didn’t stop with the Great Barrington Declaration. The platform also went after the British Medical Journal for accusing a company contracted by vaccine producer Pfizer of engaging in practices that undermined “data integrity” related to the company’s vaccine trials. 

These 808 cases are likely to barely scratch the surface. Big Tech authorities moved fast to silence small and large accounts. Prominent users with high connections were more likely to have the resources and knowledge necessary for complaining.

Even liberal comedian Bill Maher went after many of the mainstream COVID-19 narratives that turned out to be incorrect during the Feb. 4, 2022, edition of HBO’s In Real Time. Challenges to the mainstream narrative on COVID-19, such as the virus’s origins, were repeatedly censored. For example, as Maher noted, “The former director of the CDC, Robert Redfield, believes COVID originated in a lab, and now, our intelligence agencies agree: It might have. It was not even allowed to be discussed on social media for several months..” Maher is right on target. MRC President Brent Bozell slammed Facebook for having “essentially admitted” in May 2021 to censoring content that suggested that COVID-19 was man-made or manufactured. Bozell claimed in a tweet on the admission: “We now have PROOF that Facebook’s fact-checker program actively suppressed valid debate about the origins of Covid and instead promoted Chinese propaganda. Facebook must end their fraudulent fact-check program now that we know how dangerous it is.”

Real Time with Bill Maher (February 4, 2022) edition

MRC Free Speech America’s research relied on its CensorTrack database, which broke down the demographics of those censored by Big Tech in some manner for discussing COVID-19. This was the breakdown:

• 41 Doctors/Scientists/Medical and Science Groups: Between March 17, 2020, and February 3, 2022, 32 scientists and 9 medical/science groups were censored by Big Tech platforms. Notable academic journals, such as the British Medical Journal or MIT Technology Review were involved in these cases, along with notable medical practitioners like Dr. Robert Malone (mRNA vaccine innovator) and Dr. Peter McCullough (cardiologist).
• 70 Media Personalities (Journalists, TV Anchors, YouTubers, Podcasters, Radio Hosts): No one working in the media was safe from Big Tech’s COVID-19 censorship blitz. Conservative radio hosts Dan Bongino and  Mark Levin, podcaster Joe Rogan, Fox News host Tucker Carlson, podcaster and former One America News host Liz Wheeler, and Blaze Media podcaster Daniel Horowitz are a few of the names in the long list of media personalities who found themselves on the receiving end of Big Tech censorship for daring to share opinions on COVID-19 counter to the Silicon Valley giants’ preferred narrative.
• 21 News Outlets: News outlets weren’t safe either, even though their primary job is to report the news to readers. Fox News Reason MagazineJust the News, Sky News Australia, and Just the News were four of the news outlets in the CensorTrack Database that revealed how Big Tech censors COVID-19 news angle with which it does not agree.
• 7 Members of Congress Big Tech censors are not immune from elected officials who make use of social media to connect with constituents. CensorTrack documented the most outrageous case: YouTube removed a Sen. Rand Paul’s censorship critique video and suspended him for seven consecutive days. “Apparently, because I dared to contradict Dr. Fauci and the government YouTube removed my video,” Paul commented in response. 
• Others Prominent People Include:  Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI; Rep. Thomas Massie, R-KY); Rep. Nicole Malliotakis(R-NY); Rep. Byron Donalds. (R–FL); Rep. Darrell Issa. Fox News host Laura Ingraham, YouTuber David Rubin; comedian Steven Crowder; conservative commentator Candace Owens; Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk; CensorTrack board advisor Charlie Kirk. Buck Sexton, Blaze Media host Steve Deace.

Large Tech for Medical Professionals 

A new study published by Johns Hopkins University concluded that “lockdowns have had little to no public health effects.” In addition, the study demonstrated that the lockdowns “imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted.” Here was the damning part: “Lockdowns have had little to no effect on COVID-19 mortality.” Facebook silenced the voices of tens of thousands of medical and public health experts who appear to have been right about the disastrous lockdown policies that crippled the world economy in one fell swoop.

Johns Hopkins’ study shows how Facebook removed the pro-freedom Great Barrington Declaration webpage around a year before the declaration was proven correct. The declaration discussed the pro-freedom viewpoints of those against lockdowns and has obtained over 925,000 signatures in support of its argument: “Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.” The signatories included over 15,000 medical and public health scientists and over 46,000 medical practitioners.

CensorTrack logged 32 scientists and doctors, as well as nine scientific/medical groups that were censored or rebuffed by Big Tech. CensorTrack recorded 59 instances where Big Tech had censored professional medical opinions. Twitter banned Dr. Robert Malone’s account, an innovative researcher in the field mRNA vaccine technology. This was quite outrageous. Twitter didn’t warn Malone about the suspension before it happened, according to The Epoch Times. Twitter suspended the scientist’s 500,000-follower account for a vague reason, according to The Epoch Times: “‘Violating our policy on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.’” 

If Malone, who is an authority on vaccines, isn’t considered a viable voice by the Big Tech giants on the issue of COVID-19 and vaccines, then who is? According to Silicon Valley, voices are only allowed to speak on COVID-19 if approved by the company. 

One example is the January 2020 release by The World Health Organization (WHO). tweet toeing the Chinese Communist Party line that “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China.” Even the liberal New York Times WHO was criticized for its support of communist propaganda from China. The newspaper wrote in an April 15, 2020 story that “global health officials and political leaders … have said [the WHO] was too willing to accept information supplied by China, which still has not provided accurate numbers on how many people were infected and died during the initial outbreak in the country.”

The misinformation didn’t mean anything for the censorship activists at Twitter. WHO’s tweet pivoting off Chinese authorities to falsely claim there was “no clear evidence” of “human-to-human transmission” of COVID-19 remainsThe platform does not even have a warning label. It isn’t the only misinformation WHO has spread. The Times went after the WHO for pushing misinformation again in September 2020: “The World Health Organization said open borders would help fight disease. Experts unanimously agreed, as did a global treaty. However, the scientific evidence wasn’t behind them. … When the coronavirus emerged in China in January, the World Health Organization didn’t flinch in its advice: Do not restrict travel.” 

It Times story concluded: “But what is now clear is that the policy was about politics and economics more than public health.”

Even the current patron saint of the liberal media — National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci — has repeatedly contradicted himself over the past two years on COVID-19 guidance. One such example was Fauci’s repeated moving of goalposts regarding the degree of U.S. herd immunity that would be necessary for life to return to normal. You can see the full article here The New York Times noted:

“In the pandemic’s early days, Dr. Fauci tended to cite the same 60 to 70 percent estimate that most experts did. About a month ago, he began saying ‘70, 75 percent’ in television interviews. And last week, in an interview with CNBC News, he said ‘75, 80, 85 percent’ and ‘75 to 80-plus percent.’ In a telephone interview the next day, Dr. Fauci acknowledged that he had slowly but deliberately been moving the goal posts.”

But Big Tech companies apparently don’t tolerate people calling Fauci out for his falsehoods. Facebook, in particular, slapped fact-checks on users in 2021 who shared screenshots of Fauci’s publicly released email to former President Barack Obama’s Health and Human Services secretary Sylvia Burwell in which he instructed her not to wear a mask. 

Fauci stated in an email that he sent on February 5, 2020: “Masks were designed to protect infected persons from passing the virus to others.” Later Fauci explained: “The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material. However, it might provide some benefit for keeping the virus at bay.[ing] out gross droplets if someone coughs or sneezes on you.” 

This email mirrors the attitude he displayed in March 8, 2020. 60 MinutesInterview in which he , “‘Right now in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks.’” Facebook fact-checker AFP ClaimFauci was not aware of the misleading screenshots or articles that were published about Fauci’s email.[t]”The consensus has changed when new information was available” on COVID-19. USA Today PolitiFact, two other Facebook fact-checkers, offered similar defenses of their “missing context” and “False” claims. 

Both USA TodayPolitifact is part of the left-wing-funded International Fact-Checking Network. This project was funded by the liberal Poynter Institute. Poynter once tried to blacklist 29 conservative outlets in 2019 as “UnNews.” IFCN even received $1 million in 2020 from censorship giant Facebook. It announced a partnership between independent fact-checkers and IFCN members.  Liberal billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations records suggest that some of his contributions between 2017 and 2019 went specifically to funding Poynter’s IFCN. 

CBS’s 60 Minutes did a segment in October 2020 trying to defend Fauci from his flip-flop guidance that people shouldn’t be wearing masks to outright claiming, “Cloth coverings work.” CBS Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. John LaPook tried to excuse the shift by saying: “In science, it’s what we do. In medicine, it’s what we do. We talk about the information that we know now.” But new information emerged again contradicting Fauci’s statement about the efficacy of cloth coverings. A CBS affiliate reported in a Jan. 6, 2022, story: “Health experts warn to stop wearing cloth masks.” The CBS affiliate stated: “Studies are coming out that say the cloth masks that most have been wearing since the pandemic began may look good with their array of stylish colors, but it has not been very effective.” Fauci, meanwhile, has reportedly tried to continue arguing that people should still wear cloth masks aside from N95 and KN95 masks because it’s better than not wearing one at all: “‘What the CDC has said — and it gets misinterpreted — they’re saying wearing any mask is better than no mask at all.’”

Fauci’s repeated flip-flopping is definitely grounds for scrutiny, but Big Tech seems ready to protect him at all costs because his opinion is pre-approved. Instagram even censored a satirical meme on Fauci’s mask flip-flopping in June 2021. 

But you can count on Big Tech to take aim at other medical professionals who don’t adopt the Faucian line of thinking.

YouTube removed cardiologist and epidemiologist Dr. McCullough’s interview on Joe Rogan Experience Ivermectin’s efficacy and effectiveness. McCullough& Rogan spoke out about the management of COVID-19, which was shut down in America by YouTube. YouTube removed the interview and claimed it was deleted because it violated YouTube’s Community Guidelines. 

McCullough’s Twitter account later tweeted a snapshot showing that YouTube had issued a “Community Guidelines strike” against a YouTube account appearing to belong to McCullough for alleged “medical misinformation.” Facebook suspended libertarian activist, former congressman and physician Dr. Ron Paul’s account for 90 days. What set the censors off at Facebook was a post about the efficacy of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and comments from the company’s CEO. “Facebook has restricted my Ron Paul Page for ‘sharing false information,’” he tweeted. 

Paul posted images from the platform of fact-checks and the message that he got. “I shared an interview with the Pfizer CEO saying in his OWN WORDS that two shots offers ‘very limited protection, if any,’” Paul added. “[I]He spoke HIS OWN words! You, @Meta? You call that a ‘fact check’?”

From Big Tech to Media: COVID-19 Counter Narratives: We Shut You Up, or Shut Up

In addition to censoring medical professionals, Big Tech also took a sledgehammer to media personalities and news outlets who don’t agree with or challenged government COVID-19 policies and narratives (mask mandates, vaccine mandates, etc.). CensorTrack has recorded 70 media figures and 21 news outlets Big Tech attempted to silence.

YouTube suspended conservative radio host Dan Bongino because the platform took issue with his claims that masks were “useless” in preventing COVID-19. Over 850,000 people subscribed to his channel. January 14, 2009 – The Bongino Report posted the following tweet after the suspension: “YouTube just suspended Dan’s channel for daring to question the mask fascists. It seems they were expecting an apology. But that’s not quite how it worked out for them. Here’s Dan’s email to ‘Coco’ at YouTube telling them to plant a big wet kiss on his ass.” YouTube  permanently banned Bongino from its platform altogether about a week later.

In August 2021 Liz Wheeler (podcaster and former OAN host) debunked some flawed studies regarding mask effectiveness that were put forward by leftists. Health Feedback also fact-checked her clip of the podcast. Health Feedback, who flagged Liz Wheeler’s post and re-used an older fact-check, referenced studies she disproved in her fact-checked video.

A fact-checker pointed out a study published by in The Lancet Wheeler said that although the study supposedly showed mask-wearing’s effectiveness, it was only done in hospital settings. According to the fact-checker, another study was published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Wheeler claimed that the natural decrease was not accounted for. [in COVID-19 infection]The study was withdrawn by 40 scientists.   

Media personalities who also happen to be famous journalists aren’t safe either.

Just the News published a Dec. 28 report noting the suspension of John Solomon, its founder. from Twitter “for sharing an article about the legal distinctions between Pfizer’s fully approved and emergency use authorization (EUA) COVID-19 vaccines.” The distinction “could affect the legality of vaccine mandates.” Twitter slapped the article Solomon attempted to share with a “Warning: this link may be unsafe” label and propagandized that it “could lead to real-world harm.” 

Maybe Twitter loves vaccine mandates. “An immunologist who reviewed the article told Just the News he saw nothing wrong with it factually,” according to the statement. Twitter had reportedly “limited” Solomon’s account temporarily for 12 hours because his tweet allegedly violated “its policy on ‘spreading misleading and potentially harmful information’ related to COVID.”

From Big Tech to Elected Leaders: You will be silenced if you don’t agree with us.

Big Tech prevents national legislators from participating in the COVID-19 discussion. CensorTrack found seven congressmen who had their social media accounts censored because of COVID-19 incorrectthink. These are just a few of the examples where Big Tech has targeted senators and congressmen for expressing an opinion about COVID-19.

• YouTube removed the censorship-critic video of Sen. Rand Paul (R.KY) and apparently suspended him for seven consecutive days. “Apparently, because I dared to contradict Dr. Fauci and the government YouTube removed my video,” Paul commented in his response.
• Twitter slapped a sharing restriction on Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) tweet showing an adverse event comparison of various COVID-19 treatments.
• Twitter censored Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) for a tweet about natural immunity and slapped its most restrictive label, “Misleading,” over it.
• YouTube deleted Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ (R-NY) press conference announcing a lawsuit against former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “vaccine passports” for businesses.

CoVID-19 Big Tech Censorship: A Little Bipartisan

COVID-19’s censorship of COVID-19 accounts was not entirely bipartisan. A few liberal accounts also suffered from the same censorship. Children’s Health Defense Chairman and notorious leftist eco-extremist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. saw his Instagram account deplatformed. Kennedy was censored reportedly for alleged “false COVID-19 vaccine claims” and “vaccine misinformation.” The leftist-funded Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) issued a report called the “Disinformation Dozen” calling for Kennedy to be censored along with other so-called “anti-vaxxers.” 

The CCDH called for Kennedy and the others to be banned for pushing what it determined to be “digital misinformation about Covid vaccines.” Political affiliation didn’t matter. Big Tech platforms targeted those who challenged COVID-19 treatments and hid regulations. Even the White House used the CCDH’s report to push for more censorship online. CNN reported July 16, 2021. 

The White House turned up the pressure on Silicon Valley to get a handle on vaccine misinformation Thursday, specifically singling out 12 people one group dubbed the ’disinformation dozen,’ saying they were responsible for a great deal of misinformation about Covid-19. ‘There’s about 12 people who are producing 65% of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms,’ White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

The CCDH kept trying to throw its weight around. It published a report called “The Toxic Ten” that targeted the MRC, in addition to eight other conservative organizations for daring to challenge the left-wing climate-change fear-mongering narratives: The Daily Wire, Breitbart News, The Washington TimesTownhall Media. Newsmax. The Federalist Papers. The Patriot Post. The Western Journal. It accused these organizations of producing “content that sows climate change skepticism on social media platforms, creating the sense that there is a more extensive debate than there really is.” 

CCDH founder and CEO Imran Ahmed has a history as an activist for Britain’s leftist Labour Party. He also co-authored a book attacking free-market economist Friedrich Hayek titled “The New Serfdom: The Triumph of Conservative Ideas and How to Defeat Them.” Apparently defeating conservatives means silencing their voices online.

Methodology: These 808 entries include instances of COVID-19-related censorship logged to the MRC CensorTrack databank. According to CensorTrack’s classification, entries were classified according the platform that censored the content or its nature. MRC Free Speech America verified the credentials of each physician (MD) censored through individual state medical licensure databases and the UK’s General Medical Council licensure database. Scientists (PhD’s) with expertise in epidemiology, immunology, pharmacology, biochemistry and microbiology were included among the 32 experts censored. MRC Free Speech America verified each expert’s credentials via professional biographies published by the institutions that employ(ed) each scientist and/or by identifying peer-reviewed literature authored by the scientist. These 70 media personalities are those that work in media organizations or have previously worked at a major media outlet such as YouTubers or podcasters with more than 10,000 subscribers.

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