(Congress Report) – A new Daily Caller report from John Hugh Demastri has revealed that social media giant Facebook requested talking points from the Biden administration in order to “get ahead” of the possibility that individuals might be less inclined to get the coronavirus vaccine once evidence came out that suggested the Johnson and Johnson single-dose vaccine could potentially cause life-threatening blood clots in rare cases. This information came from a series of documents that were shared with the news publication.
“The U.S. Centers For Disease Control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a joint statement on April 13, 2021, issuing a pause on the use of the J&J COVID-19 vaccine after they identified 6 cases where adult women — out of roughly 7 million individuals who receive the dose — developed severe blood clots. A Facebook employee wrote an email later that day asking Biden administration COVID-19 czar Andrew Slavitt for “any messaging” that the White House might want the company to promote, looping in White House Director of Digital Strategy Rob Flaherty and Director of Strategic Communications and Engagement for the COVID-19 Response Team Courtney Rowe in a follow-up email moments later, according to documents obtained by the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) and shared with the DCNF,” Demastri wrote.
The NCLA is currently involved in a lawsuit that was filed by the Attorneys General of both Louisiana and Missouri, which alleges improper collusion between social media companies and the federal government. They obtained the emails through discovery.
“Re the J+J news, we’re keen to amplify any messaging you want us to project about what this means for people – it obviously has the risk of exacerbating vaccine hesitancy, so we’re keen to get ahead of the knock-on effect,” the employee stated in the message. “Don’t hesitate to tell me – or via your teams – how we can help you provide clarity/reassurance via Facebook.”
Flaherty then replied to the email, suggesting that the company make a context panel for information concerning the COVID vaccine, going on to further suggest the company inform users that clotting incidents are “very rare,” and pointing out that both the FDA and CDC are coming up with a treatment plan and that the vaccine is different from both the Moderna and Pfizer shots, noting they were not affected.
The White House official then noted that he was “happy to provide” additional specifics about what kind of information the context panel should contain.
“In addition, he provided Facebook with a statement from the White House, and informed the company that the CDC would be putting together a FAQ sheet on the J&J vaccine that the White House would ‘love to have amplified in whatever way possible,’ according to the emails. Finally, Flaherty asked that Facebook commit to spreading as much positive news about the vaccine as negative, even going so far as to request that the company alter its algorithms to do so,” Demastri said.
Flaherty then remarked that he believed a “commitment from [Facebook] to make sure that a favorable review reaches as many people as the pause, either through hard product interventions or algorithmic amplification,” would be beneficial in preventing “misinformation,” which is the left’s new favorite buzzword, concerning the Johnson and Johnson shot, as per the emails.
“The Facebook employee thanked Flaherty ‘very much’ for suggesting a context panel and asked if he had any ideas for how to update the company’s existing COVID-19 news panel, according to the emails. The employee also thanked Flaherty for his willingness to provide the CDC messaging, before promising that the company would ‘love to talk’ about possibly modifying its algorithm to alter how information is shared and concluding with a promise to share data relating to ‘misinformation,'” Demastri continued.
Flaherty went head-to-head with the company over the course of the next week due to its refusal to censor Fox News host Tucker Carlson and his criticism of the J&J vaccine and the vaccine messaging from the Biden administration. The folks over at the FDA eventually limited the use of the J&J vaccine to individuals who refused or were ineligible to take other kinds of vaccines, citing the risks that were associated with the blood clots in a statement put out on May 5, 2022.
At the end of the day, what we have here is evidence that the federal government was purposefully trying to pressure social media companies to push their message regarding the vaccine, regardless of the potential negative impact it could have on a person’s health. Still don’t think this was all about power and control?
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