Big tech platforms like Facebook and YouTube are taking “draconian measures” against content that does not line up with the narrative of the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) when it comes to the Chinese coronavirus, Dr. James Todaro stated during an appearance at Monday’s “White Coat Summit” in the nation’s capital.
The press conference, which was streamed live by Breitbart News and subsequently removed by Facebook after garnering over 17 million views, becoming the top-performing Facebook post in the world Monday afternoon, featured the group America’s Frontline Doctors, whose goal was to address the “widespread misinformation” surrounding the novel coronavirus.
Many of the doctors detailed their own experiences with censorship — from both the board and social media platforms.
“I would say Facebook and YouTube have taken the most draconian measures to silence and censorship people, and this is coming from the CEO of YouTube as well as Mark Zuckerberg saying anything that goes against what the World Health Organization has said is subject to censorship,” Todaro said, emphasizing that the W.H.O. has made a “number of mistakes during this pandemic.”
“They have not been perfect by any means,” the ophthalmology specialist added.
While he identified Twitter as one of the “freest” platforms to “share dialogue, intelligent discussion regarding this information,” he noted that it, too, has “flaws and faults.”
Twitter joined Facebook and Google-owned YouTube in censoring footage from Monday’s press conference, restricting Donald Trump Jr.’s account after he shared the video on the platform. Twitter determined that he violated platform rules “on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.”
“Twitter suspending Don. Jr. for sharing a viral video of medical professionals discussing their views on Hydroxychloroquine is further proof that Big Tech is intent on killing free expression online and is another instance of them committing election interference and to stifle Republican voices,” Trump Jr. spokesman Andrew Surabian said in a statement.
“If it seems like there is an orchestrated attack that’s going on on hydroxychloroquine, it’s because there is,” Dr. Todaro continued on Monday. “When have you ever heard of a medication generating this degree of controversy — a 65-year-old medication that has been [on] the World Health Organization’s safe, essential list of medications for years.”
Dr. Todaro, who received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, also explained that he coauthored the first major document on hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for coronavirus back in March.
“Since then, there’s been a tremendous amount of censorship on doctors like us and what we’re saying, and a number of us have already been censored,” he continued, revealing that Google removed the document that he coauthored:
“That Google document that I coauthored was actually pulled down by Google,” he continued, adding that “you still can’t read that article.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.