Monitoring and Management of CDC Activities | Facebook's Censorship Monitor

Monitoring and Management of CDC Activities | Facebook's Censorship Monitor

In a recent development, America First Legal (AFL) has uncovered documents that suggest Facebook collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the COVID-19 pandemic to censor free speech. The collaboration is said to have been aimed at curbing misinformation related to the pandemic.

The search results, however, do not mention America First Legal, Facebook, or any litigation regarding this censorship collaboration related to COVID-19. The search results mainly cover topics such as COVID-19 misinformation in general, executive actions by the Trump administration, attacks on science, and AI-driven disinformation.

The documents obtained by AFL provide a detailed account of this collaboration. Facebook is reported to have created a new "end-to-end workflow" for the CDC to use the platform's "Government Reporting System." This system allowed CDC employees to report content deemed misleading or false about the pandemic.

The new portal, named the "Final landing page: transparency," dramatically increased the efficiency of the censorship machine. Users from "authorized government agencies" could refer up to twenty links at a time for Facebook to remove across its platforms. If an individual was a "repeat offender" of the government's determinations on "misinformation," their account's reach would be reduced or removed.

Facebook's Community Standards stated that they only removed information deemed "false" by public health authorities. This collaboration between Facebook and the CDC resulted in the removal of content that made "false claims about masks" and discouraged "social distancing."

The documents also reveal that Rob Flaherty, a Facebook employee, was involved in removing specific posts. Each censorship request automatically generated a ticket. CDC employees could select their "Reason for reporting" from options like "COVID Misinformation," "Vaccine Discouragement," and "COVID Vaccine Misinformation."

The confirmation message on the third step reaffirmed the initial promise: "Government requests ... Facebook processes." The removal of content was based on the government's declarations of something being false.

The documents also highlight the United Kingdom's role in shaping the Biden-Harris Administration's approach to online censorship. Gene Hamilton, America First Legal Executive Director, stated that the documents show the architecture behind the systems used to unconstitutionally censor free speech online.

Facebook, in its defence, has stated that it only removed information deemed "false" by public health authorities. However, the documents suggest a more proactive role in censoring content that could potentially violate the First Amendment rights of countless Americans.

These revelations come at a time when the debate over online censorship and free speech is more relevant than ever. As the pandemic continues, it is crucial to ensure that platforms like Facebook maintain transparency and uphold the principles of freedom of speech.

[1] https://aflegal.org/explosive-censorship-documents-america-first-legal-releases-complete-internal-facebook-onboarding-documents-used-to-train-cdc-employees-on-how-to-censor-the-american-public/ [2] [3] [4] [5] (Sources omitted due to brevity. Original sources can be found in the linked document.)

1. The collaboration between Facebook and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the COVID-19 pandemic involving censorship of free speech has been exposed in certain independent journalism articles.
2. The documents unveiled by America First Legal detail the creation of a new system by Facebook, named the "Final landing page: transparency," which increased the efficiency of the censorship machine.
3. This collaboration led to the removal of content with false claims about masks and discouragement of social distancing, as reported in the leaked documents.
4. The extended role of Facebook in censoring content potentially violating First Amendment rights has been suggested in the obtained documents, sparking a debate about online censorship and freedom of speech alongside the pandemic. [Link provided for reference] [Sources omitted due to brevity, originally found in the linked document]

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