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Twitter Pressured to Label COVID-19 Facts as “Misinformation”

Twitter building

In March of 2020, the global social media platform Twitter implemented a COVID-19 “misinformation” policy that would add labels and warning messages to Tweets Twitter administrators deemed to be “misinformation.” Under this effort to censor certain information about COVID-19 and COVID vaccines that does not align with government policy, tweets could also be removed altogether after repeated violations of the corporation’s policy. Twitter administrators stated they would “rely on trusted partners to identify content that is likely to result in offline harm.”1

As a result, a number of user accounts were suspended in 2020 and 2021, including the 11-year-old @NVICLoeDown account of the National Vaccine Information Center that had been placed into a “lifetime ban” category.2

Fast forward to October of 2022. The new CEO of Twitter Elon Musk acquired Twitter and put an end to the COVID misinformation censorship policy, stating that he hoped for Twitter to become a mecca for free speech. He restored many legitimate Twitter accounts that had been suspended, including NVIC’s account.3

Since then, Musk has also released a series of internal documents known as the “Twitter Files,” which Musk is releasing with the intent of revealing “what really happened” behind the scenes with regard to the censorship of certain voices at Twitter prior to his purchase of the global social media platform.4 Documents that have been released so far cover a wide variety of topics, including lowering the visibility of certain accounts and the FBI’s “government-industry” relationship in flagging certain accounts or political opinions.5

Internal Documents Reveal Researchers Pushed Twitter to Label Vaccine Side Effects as “Malinformation”

Last month, Twitter Files number 19 was made public. Entitled, The Great COVID-19 Lie Machine Stanford, the Virality Project, and the Censorship of ‘True Stories’, the released documents show that researchers from a coalition known as the Virality Project (VP) pressured Twitter to treat facts surrounding COVID as misinformation or “malinformation”. These facts included descriptions of COVID vaccine side effects, including reported vaccine injuries and deaths, and criticism of mandatory COVID vaccine policies and vaccine passport systems.6

Stanford, NYU and Others Form Coalition to “Mitigate Misleading Narratives”

Per their Twitter bio, Virality Project defines itself as “a coalition of research entities” that focus “on detecting and mitigating the impact of false and misleading narratives related to COVID vaccines.”7 The organization collaborated with Twitter in December of 2020. Research partners with the Virality Project include Stanford, New York University, and the University of Washington, among others.8

Virality Project worked with Social Media and CDC to Flag Content that Promoted Vaccine Hesitancy

The Twitter Files released Virality Project weekly briefings showing that the Vitality Project administrators continuously monitored content on a mass scale for several social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest. Screen shots from the Twitter Files show emails and reports that reveal communications from the Virality Project researchers encouraging Twitter:

to expand its misinformation policies to include true reports of vaccine side effects, criticism of vaccine passport systems for their imposition on rights and freedoms, and even discussion of legitimate scientific research on breakthrough infections on natural immunity.6

The researchers explicitly flagged true content if it promoted vaccine hesitancy, which included tweets about other countries banning certain vaccines. The Twitter Files also state that the Virality Project worked in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control to promote and implement these standards.6

Researchers Aimed to Shut Down Vaccine Passport Conversation

In one email to Twitter, the Virality Project researchers addressed the “vaccine passport narrative” citing concerns that they “have driven a larger anti-vaccination narrative about the loss of rights and freedoms” and framed it as a misinformation event. VP also stated that just “asking questions” was “a tactic commonly used by spreaders of misinformation to deflect culpability” and at one point contacted the Twitter team to “hone in on ongoing tactics and themes including an increasingly popular narrative around natural immunity.”5

Government-Run Misinformation Surveillance Branch Shut Down

After about a year working with Twitter, the Vitality Project  issued a report calling for the formation of a government-run misinformation surveillance agency to address “nationally trending narratives.”5

On Apr. 27, 2022 under the direction of President Biden, the Department of Homeland Security announced the creation of the Disinformation Governance Board. Only three weeks following the announcement, the Governance Board was shut down following intense scrutiny over its threat to freedom of speech.9

Twitter Files Journalist Says Digital Censorship Openly Focused on Political Narrative

Regarding the Twitter Files, journalist Matt Taibbi tweeted:

This story is important for two reasons. One as Orwellian proof-of-concept, the Virality Project was a smash success. Government, academia, and an oligopoly of would-be corporate competitors organized quickly behind a secret, unified effort to control political messaging.5

He went on to write:

Two, it accelerated the evolution of digital censorship, moving it from judging truth/untruth to a new, scarier model, openly focused on political narrative at the expense of fact.5


References:

1 Roth Y, Picles N. Updating our approach to misleading information. Twitter Blog May 11, 2020.
2 National Vaccine Information Center. NVIC Suspended from Twitter. May 24, 2021.
3 Fisher BL. NVIC Back Up on Twitter @NVICLoeDown. The Vaccine Reaction Feb. 12, 2023.
4 Picchi A. Twitter files: what they are and why they matter. Money Watch: CBS News Dec. 14, 2022.
5 Twitter. Matt Taibbi Apr. 1, 2023.
6 Britschgi C. Resesarchers pressured Twitter to treat COVID-19 facts as ‘misinformation’. Reason Mar. 17, 2023.
7 Twitter. Virality Project. Apr. 2, 2023.
8 Virality Project Mar. 30, 2023.
9 Volz D. DHS folds disinformation board after criticism over threat to free speech. The Wall Street Journal Aug. 25, 2022.

8 Responses

  1. I am so thankful that organizations such as yours and Russell Brand, Matt Tiabbi, even Tucker Carlson and JP Sears are letting citizens know that we have been targeted by those who want complete control over every aspect of our lives. This is all so pure evil in my opinion. I thank God for your efforts. To mandate this toxin be injected into our children/babies is completely insane. Thank you for trying to educate those who are blind…how they have not had their eyes opened after 3 years is mind boggling. I have offered my small financial support for the past 3 years and will continue to do so. As the saying goes, “truth is a light…let it shine”. You are one of those holding that light against such unbelievable darkness. May God bless you all.

  2. Our entire government is corrupt!! The worse part of all this is it was paid for with our money!!
    Our country is now communist run country by a men and women who admired China!!
    Look at going after Trump for stormy Daniels payment!!
    How about the slush fund of taxpayers dollars are used to pay off all sexual cases brought against congress! This is a fact look it up !!

  3. Our entire government is corrupt!! The worse part of all this is it was paid for with our money!!
    Our country is now communist run country by a men and women who admired China!!
    Look at going after Trump for stormy Daniels payment!!
    How about the slush fund of taxpayers dollars are used to pay off all sexual cases brought against congress! This is a fact look it up !!

  4. Send all the TREASONOUS to the Bank for International Settlements…As THAT IS THE TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN; along with the rest of the Central Banker Family Cartel. Let them deal with their propagandized B.S. THEY STARTED AND CONTINUE TO TYRANNIZE OTHERS TO MAINTAIN.
    Switzerland IS NOT NEUTRAL…It is THE CENTRAL REGION OF THE NAZI THREAT TO THE WORLD and then again; what would anybody expect when the leaders of the Globalist Institutions in Switzerland are all descendants of Hitler’s Germany?

  5. Elon Musk and cousin were injured by COVID 💉 .
    Elon didn’t buy Twitter for just free speech.
    Elon wanted Twitter Files to prove US government was interfering with free speech.

  6. Our government is indeed VERY corrupt, & needs to be REPLACED. Every single one of them, save maybe 2-3!
    I am SO GLAD that Elon Musk purchased Twitter, so that he could reveal all the atrocities of corrupt corporations, the world banking cartel & our own government!!
    The truth is, Covid-19 AND the so-called vaccines ARE bioweapons, designed (or ordered to be designed, & funded) by our own Dept. of Defense, in cahoots with Klaus Schwab & his World Economic Forum, Bill Gates, George Soros, Barack Obama, Justin Trudeau, Anthony Fauci, Nancy Pelosi, the WHO, the UN, & who knows how many others. They really ARE trying to depopulate this planet, & to make the survivors weak & sick so they’ll have to depend on the government, so they’ll be easy to control, & so they can be forced into 15 minute cities, not being able to travel at will as we do now. While they, as the ruling class, will live in luxury & travel wherever they so choose. They are incredibly EVIL.
    ALL involved need to be TRIED under the NUREMBERG CODE, as they HAVE executed CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY. They are absolutely despicable — demons, henchmen/women of Satan, trying to destroy God’s most precious creation — humankind. And yes, they have SAID this in writing, check it out.
    Thank God that many are beginning to WAKE UP, & are seeing that Covid AND the jabs are bioweapons from our own government, which is even WORSE than Hitler!!
    Pray for their plans to be foiled, for the Central Bank Digital Currency to fall through, for countries to back their currencies with gold, & for these demons to stand trial, be convicted, & sentenced as they should be!

    1. That’s what they get when they turn their backs on God! Dwell on the Lord and not this cess pool world!! They are going after the Christians now like he said it would!!

  7. God Bless you, Elon Musk. Thank you for standing up for doing the right thing. Again, may our God Bless you and yours! I wish I could say this to you in person. I am not rich, just try to do what is right.

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