OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.
Recently obtained emails reveal Facebook’s knowledge of inaccuracies associated with the “disinformation dozen,” initially linked to a secretive British “anti-hate” non-governmental organization (NGOs) that claim “to work toward public or social welfare goals.”
Facebook’s cooperation with Republicans was limited until Congressman Jim Jordan threatened to hold Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress. Faced with limited options, Facebook has now initiated the release of vital documents.
Internal communications show Facebook caved under pressure and colluded with the Biden administration to censure Americans, particularly regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.
Facebook was stunned that the Biden White House seemed to actually believe the CCDH’s obviously false stat and was relying on these foreign activists’ “data” to “guide major governmental policy decisions.” pic.twitter.com/HY4LZD7U8j
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) September 5, 2023
In a significant revelation, the Biden administration falsely claimed that 65 percent of all “anti-vaccine content” could be traced back to just 12 accounts within the infamous “disinformation dozen.”
This isn’t true. In reality, senior Facebook executives were fully aware that these 12 accounts were only responsible for a mere 0.05 percent of “anti-vaccine content.”
Based on a lie, the tech giant and Biden administration censured millions of Americans and violated the basic American right to free speech.
The Biden White House’s censorship demands didn’t stop there.
They also wanted Facebook to remove all URL links to off-platform websites, which would “remove significant amounts of benign content posted by regular users, such as . . . person experiences or government criticism.” pic.twitter.com/CXYylY8KqQ
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) September 5, 2023
“Besides enforcing bans and limiting the visibility of accounts, the Biden White House also urged Facebook to censor links to external websites that were ‘linked to COVID misinformation violators,’ even when the posts and links were unrelated to COVID or vaccine topics.”
By August, things hadn’t improved.
CCDH’s false Disinfo Dozen stat was “routinely cited in the press” and contributed to FB having a “tough relationship with” the Biden White House.
So Facebook “tailored” solutions around the White House’s concerns rather than real problems. pic.twitter.com/hG8ZDOrlfe
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) September 5, 2023
Despite possessing information that clearly disproved the accuracy of the 65 percent statistic, both the media and the Biden administration persisted in referencing this misleading figure.
An illuminating statement from a Facebook employee unveiled how the White House managed to maintain focus on the “disinformation dozen” claim, even though they were well aware it was misinformation in itself.
In a campaign heavily reliant on misinformation, Facebook eventually succumbed to political and media pressures. This led to the censorship of the so-called “disinformation dozen,” including the suspension of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Instagram account.
It wasn’t until earlier this summer that the ban on these accounts was finally lifted.