(Washington, DC) — In a potentially illegal and 1984-feeling turn, the Surgeon General is requesting big tech companies turn over data about “COVID misinformation” on their platforms. The information request asks companies to provide “exactly how many users saw or may have been exposed to instances of COVID-19 misinformation.” This, of course is whatever the Surgeon General considers ‘misinformation’. Here is how he defines it in an official advisory from 2021:
“…many people have also been exposed to health misinformation: information
that is false, inaccurate, or misleading according to the best available evidence at the time.6, 7, 8 *
Misinformation has caused confusion and led people to decline COVID-19 vaccines, reject public health
measures such as masking and physical distancing, and use unproven treatments.5, 9, 10 For example,
a recent study showed that even brief exposure to COVID-19 vaccine misinformation made people
less likely to want a COVID-19 vaccine.11 Misinformation has also led to harassment of and violence
against public health workers, health professionals, airline staff, and other frontline workers tasked with communicating evolving public health measures.12,…”
The Surgeon General is also asking the public and health care workers to provide information on how they believe misinformation affected their communities. The requests are part of President Biden’s COVID “National Preparedness Plan” unveiled this week.
