In its latest attempt to curb conservative coverage, Facebook censored a Federalist article on Wednesday about the dangers of COVID censorship.
Facebook flagged the article, titled “Forcing People Into COVID Vaccines Ignores Important Scientific Information,” with a “missing context” label and linked to a Lead Stories article dissecting a United Kingdom publication’s article, which said, “Only the Fully Vaccinated should fear the New ‘Worst Ever’ Covid-19 Variant; data shows they already account for 4 in every 5 Covid Deaths.”
The purported “fact check” authored by a former CNN employee for the obscure third-party company with ties to the sketchy Chinese company ByteDance, however, doesn’t actually address The Federalist article or any of the claims made in it. Instead, the article tries to downplay the fact that COVID case data from the U.K. shows that vaccinated people are increasingly contracting COVID-19.
“Fact Check: In UK, Fully Vaccinated ARE 4 In Every 5 COVID-19 Deaths — But Simple Ratio Can Mislead If Other Variables Ignored,” the Lead Stories headline states.
While The Federalist article uses data from several scientific journals as well as from the U.K. Health Security Agency to note that “mass vaccination will not stop the pandemic,” its main premise, that “questioning the competence and integrity of government bureaucracies like the FDA doesn’t make someone a bad person or a spreader of disinformation,” is not even remotely addressed in the Lead Stories article.
“Similar surges fueled by breakthrough cases around the world tell the same story,” The Federalist article’s authors explain. “This is not disinformation but simply data, which everyone should be free to consider and discuss — even more so as it bears critically on the cost-benefit analysis individuals must make as they decide whether to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and subsequent boosters.”
The Lead Stories article, however, was clearly created to push a vaccine agenda that allows no room for the same questioning that The Federalist contributors argue in favor of. Instead of allowing dissent, which “is an integral part of the sacred compact between government and governed that underpins a free society,” Lead Stories has joined the ranks of Americans who “allow the current regime of censorship to continue at their extreme peril.”
Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.
