FOIA Documents Reveal Biden Surgeon General’s Push to Pressure Big Tech Over ‘Misinformation’

The records offer a window into the Biden administration’s Censorship Industrial Complex

Internal records obtained by Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) through the Freedom of Information Act reveal how the Biden administration aggressively pushed to suppress COVID-19 “misinformation” in 2021, despite its own officials spreading incorrect information about the pandemic and COVID vaccines.

Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s office sought to target social media companies, expand the government’s “misinformation” campaign beyond COVID, and steer public messaging away from vaccine safety concerns.

A memo to Murthy’s “Misinformation Tiger Team” proposed a “maximum pressure” campaign against technology companies, while acknowledging the effort could “politicize[] [the] office by further engaging in social media/censorship war.” The memo celebrated Twitter’s temporary suspension of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as a victory to share and build on: “We can take momentum and show how many people are taking action (i.e., YouTube policy change and even Twitter banning MTG for day).” The records also showed officials considering entertainment partnerships to promote the campaign as an “all of society approach.”

Meanwhile, an internal email acknowledged that team members had been “unilaterally focused on misinformation” for two to four weeks and needed to “walk and chew gum” to “drive some additional priorities,” suggesting concern that other responsibilities were being sidelined.

The documents also showed the administration aimed to push the misinformation attack campaign beyond just COVID. Ahead of a May 2021 call with the White House, a senior official in Murthy’s office recommended expanding the emphasis “more broadly” to all “health and medical misinformation,” and even “how social media impacts people, especially young people.”

Other documents reveal talking points the Surgeon General was given to address questions about vaccines and the spread of COVID. Guidance for “tough Q&A” listed “Talking about vaccine safety concerns” and “Providing minute details on the specifics of the FDA approval process” as topics to avoid. The memo said to lecture Americans who had not received the shot, “If you are unvaccinated, you present a problem to yourself, family, and those with whom you work” and also assert that “vaccine requirements will stop the spread of variants.” States were told to “get out of the way” if they wouldn’t require masking in schools and parents were instructed to “have your kids wear masks.”

“These documents show an administration consumed by its campaign against what it termed ‘misinformation,’ potentially at the expense of other priorities, and intent on controlling what Americans could say,” said Protect the Public’s Trust Communications Director Alexa Moutevelis. “Meanwhile, officials were advancing their own misinformation about COVID and taking steps to tightly control what information Americans could hear.”

Past Articles:

New Docs Reveal Biden Surgeon General’s Obsession with Combating COVID ‘Misinformation’

Watchdog: Surgeon General’s School Distancing Guidance Was Not Science-Based

Biden Surgeon General Appears to Admit to Agency Participation in Tech Censorship

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