Several well-known doctors and scientists joined a lawsuit against the Biden administration Tuesday over social media censorship of COVID-19 information.
Drs. Jayanta (Jay) Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff and Aaron Kheriaty joined the lawsuit filed by the states of Missouri and Louisiana, alleging that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) worked with Big Tech companies to censor Americans discussing the pandemic. The doctors alleged they were censored on social media platforms for expressing views in opposition to the positions of the federal government, their representation, the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), said in a Tuesday press release.
I am suing the government (@POTUS, @CDCgov, Fauci, etc) for colluding with @Twitter, @facebook, @LinkedIn and @YouTube to censor our free speech during the pandemic, jointly with @Eric_Schmitt, @JeffLandry, @DrJBhattacharya, @akheriaty & @HealthFreedomLA.https://t.co/g2YvCv9wCA
— Martin Kulldorff (@MartinKulldorff) August 3, 2022
Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, and Kulldorff, a former professor of medicine at Harvard University and member of the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Subgroup, were co-authors of the Great Barrington Declaration. The declaration advocated for a targeted approach to protect society’s most vulnerable from COVID-19 and against widespread lockdowns and mandates aimed at curbing the spread of the virus. Both men have faced intense pushback from pro-lockdown figures, including some government officials, for their public opposition to policies like stay-at-home orders and vaccine mandates.
Kulldorff and Bhattacharya have both worked with several politicians including Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Trump administration on health policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. (RELATED: Biden Admin Spent Tens Of Thousands On Media Training For CDC Director Walensky)
“The Biden Administration’s involvement in silencing the voices of those who have critiqued its responses to Covid-19, through pressure exerted on social media companies, is unprecedented in nature and degree,” Jenin Younes, litigation counsel at NCLA, said. “The government’s sweeping campaign to suppress the perspectives of the plaintiffs, and others like them, represents the most severe abrogation of the First Amendment in modern times, and we look forward to seeing this constitutional atrocity rectified in a court of law.”
Recently unearthed government records show that health officials at the CDC coordinated with Big Tech companies, including Google, Facebook and Twitter, to advise them on what kind of content to flag as misinformation on their sites. Those platforms either removed, suppressed or added warning labels to thousands of pieces of content that contradicted CDC guidance throughout the pandemic, a study found.