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Zuckerberg Regrets Censoring Covid Content, But Disinformation Threatens Public Health, Not Free Speech


By complaining that he was pressured to "censor" content about the pandemic, Zuckerberg has signaled to purveyors of disinformation that Facebook is open for business.

In the spring of 2020, only two months after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, Carnegie Mellon University researchers reported that more than 80% of the top 50 influential retweeters of coronavirus posts were bots. The Washington Post reports that under political pressure from Rep. Jordan and other ultraconservatives in Congress, “academics, universities, and government agencies are overhauling or ending research programs designed to counter the spread of online misinformation.” Today, in a parallel universe filled with alternative facts, “natural” infections are safer than vaccines, fluoridated water and wind turbines are harmful to health, antidepressants are linked to school shootings and climate change is a hoax.

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