Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo released guidance based on research about covid vaccines and associated risks. The CDC releases such information. Other state surgeon generals release such information. That is their actual job. To study public health issues and issue reports, recommendations, guidance, and so forth.
The question of enforcing said information or guidelines is a separate one and was not at stake here. This Surgeon General and medical expert professional released a study from his fellow expert medical professionals.
And the censors at Twitter CENSORED that public health information from the official empowered to share it AND banned him from the site. Here’s what they said, via Politico:
“Our current misleading information policies cover: synthetic and manipulated media, COVID-19, and civic integrity,” Twitter stated in its post that blocked Ladapo’s tweet. “If we determine a Tweet contains misleading or disputed information per our policies that could lead to harm, we may add a label to the content to provide context and additional information.”
Gov. DeSantis’s press secretary Bryan Griffin called it Orwellian.
.@Twitter censored data posted by the Florida State Surgeon General @FLSurgeonGen that showed an increase risk of cardiac-related death among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination. This is an unacceptable and Orwellian move for narrative over fact. pic.twitter.com/cuTkDM0KOi
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) October 9, 2022
Eventually the tweet was restored.
The Tweet has been restored by @Twitter. Thank you to everyone who helped draw attention to this.
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) October 9, 2022
Here it is:
Today, we released an analysis on COVID-19 mRNA vaccines the public needs to be aware of. This analysis showed an increased risk of cardiac-related death among men 18-39. FL will not be silent on the truth.
Guidance: https://t.co/DcWZLoMU5E
Press Release: https://t.co/Y0r9yepi7F— Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD (@FLSurgeonGen) October 7, 2022
BUT…
Twitter admits no wrongdoing. They didn’t blame an error like PayPal did. They simply exercised the option to silence something they didn’t like, characterize it as false despite having no expertise to do so, and then restored the tweet when it was clear it was getting more attention in being banned. Twitter reserves the right to malign medical expertise and harm the careers of public AND private individuals, and to control what information is and is not worthy of access by the public, and they make no apology for it nor offer any explanation. And they see no problem with that set-up. Nor does the press.
The fact is that the left and Big Tech absolutely believe in censorship. They don’t think you should be free to share information that they disagree with, and Twitter has – like PayPal tried and failed to do – made themselves the arbiters and enforcers of acceptable truth.
They aren’t doctors. They aren’t elected. They aren’t empowered by the government. Big Tech simply believes they can dictate how society operates by sheer power, and the Democrats and far left are MORE than happy to help them.
Orwellian. Dystopian. Dangerous. But they aren’t so powerful yet that they can’t be stopped. There’s still time. Barely, but still time.