Governments worked to censor truth on social media

'True stories could fuel hesitancy' over taking injections

- JONATHAN TURLEY

JOURNALIST Matt Taibbi has released worrying new details on previously undisclosed censorship efforts on social media.

The latest Twitter files revealed a breathtaking effort from Stanford University's Virality Project to censor even true stories. After all, the project insisted "true stories... could fuel hesitancy" over taking the vaccine or other measures.

The effort included suppressing stories that we now know are legitimate, such as natural immunity defences, the exaggerated value of masks, and questions over vaccine efficacy in preventing second illnesses.

We have learned of an ever-expanding coalition of groups working with the government and social media to target and censor Americans, including government-funded organisations.

However, the new files are chilling in the details allegedly showing how the Virality Project labelled even true stories as "anti-vaccine" and, therefore, subject to censorship. These files would suggest that the project worked to limit free speech and suppress alternative scientific viewpoints.

Taibbi describes the Virality Project as "a sweeping, cross-platform effort to monitor billions of social media posts by Stanford University, federal agencies, and a slew of (often state-funded) NGOs." He added: "We've since learned the Virality Project in 2021 worked with government to launch a pan-industry monitoring plan for covid-related content.