Big Tech Censored Dozens of Doctors, More Than 800 Accounts for COVID-19 ‘Misinformation,’ Study Finds

Resource : https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2022-02-08/merck-and-ridgeback-announce-that-3-1-million-courses-of-molnupiravir-an-investigational-oral-antiviral-covid-19-medicine-have

Big Tech Censored Dozens of Doctors, More Than 800 Accounts for COVID-19 ‘Misinformation,’ Study Finds

Ailan Evans / @AilanHEvans / February 09, 2022

Twitter, Google, Google+, Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are among the platforms arrayed on the screen of an Apple iPhone. Many of them have used their largely unregulated power to censor information they don’t approve of as “misinformation.” (Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images)

Major technology companies and social media platforms have removed, suppressed or flagged the accounts of more than 800 prominent individuals and organizations, including medical doctors, for COVID-19 “misinformation,” according to a new study from the Media Research Center.

The study focused on acts of censorship on major social media platforms and online services, including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Ads, and TikTok.

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Instances of censorship included Facebook’s decision to flag the British Medical Journal with a “fact check” and “missing context” label, reducing the visibility of a post, for a study delving into data-integrity issues with a Pfizer vaccine clinical trial.

Facebook also deleted the page of the Great Barrington Declaration, an open letter led by dozens of medical professionals, including Dr. Jay Battacharya, a Stanford epidemiologist, and Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a former employee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which advocated for less restrictive measures to address the dangers of COVID-19.

“Big Tech set up a system where you can’t disagree with ‘the science’ even though that’s the foundation of the scientific method,” Dan Gainor, MRC vice president of Free Speech America, told the Daily Caller National Foundation. “If doctors and academic journals can’t debate publicly, then it’s not science at all. It’s ‘religion.’”

Big Tech also scrubbed podcast host Joe Rogan’s interviews with scientists Dr. Peter McCullough and Dr. Robert Malone, the latter of whom was instrumental in pioneering mRNA technology. Twitter banned Malone from its platform permanently in late December over the virologist’s tweets questioning the efficacy and safety of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“We tallied 32 different doctors who were censored, including mRNA vaccine innovator Dr. Robert Malone,” Gainor said. “Censoring views of credentialed experts doesn’t ensure confidence in vaccines. It undermines faith in government COVID-19 strategies.“

In addition to medical doctors, the study examined instances in which members of Congress were censored by tech platforms.

These included an incident last August in which YouTube suspended Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., for posting a video arguing that “cloth masks” are not effective against the coronavirus, a view later echoed by many prominent medical commentators. Twitter also flagged a tweet from Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., in which he wrote “studies show those with natural immunity from a prior infection are much less likely to contract and spread COVID than those who only have vaccine-induced immunity.”

The study also examined Big Tech censorship of prominent media personalities, such as Rogan, Tucker Carlson, and Dan Bongino.

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Pfizer to split into three units, separates consumer healthcare

The lawyer’s already had it figured out

July 11, 2018

FILE PHOTO: The Pfizer logo is seen at their world headquarters in New York April 28, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc said on Wednesday it would reorganize into three units, separating its consumer healthcare business that the U.S. drugmaker has been trying to sell since last year.

The news comes a day after the company decided to defer drug price increases for no more than six months, following criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump for raising list prices of some medicines.

The units would be Innovative Medicines, Established Medicines and Consumer Healthcare. The company is currently split into two units – Innovative Medicines, which includes the consumer business, and Essential Health.

“This design gives us a sharper focus on diverse patients in diverse markets,” Albert Bourla, chief operating officer said.

The Innovative Medicines business will now also include biosimilars and a new hospital business unit, and together with the Consumer Healthcare business, will account for about three-quarters of the company’s revenue. Pfizer’s 2017 annual revenue was $52.55 billion.

Pfizer said it would still evaluate options for its consumer healthcare business and expects to make a decision in 2018.

The company said in October last year that it was considering the sale or spin-off of the consumer healthcare business, which is worth about $15 billion. In May, Pfizer said that it had not received an acceptable offer.

The business consists of products ranging from Advil to lip balms.

The Established Medicines unit would include the majority of the company’s off-patent brands, including Viagra and neurological disease treatment Lyrica as well as some generic drugs.

The changes would be effective at the start of fiscal 2019.

Pfizer shares were flat at $37.40 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Sweta Singh)