Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Newsmax on Friday that the censorship of information related to COVID-19 by the media — be it social or otherwise — while collaborating with the government is cause for concern.
Appearing on "Spicer & Co.," Johnson, who has been an advocate for more information about the COVID-19 vaccine, said the censorship "is Orwellian. This is big government turned into big brother. It's affecting all of us. It's jeopardizing and removing our freedom. We ought to be concerned."
Johnson's comments referenced disclosures Thursday by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who said that the government is working with private companies such as social media platforms to flag posts related to COVID-19 that are spreading what she called "disinformation."
"We are in regular touch with the social media platforms and those engagements typically happen through members of our senior staff and also members of our COVID-19 team — given as Dr. [Vivek] Murthy conveyed, this is a big issue, of misinformation, specifically on the pandemic," she said during the daily White House press briefing.
"We've increased disinformation research and tracking within the Surgeon General's Office. We are flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation. It's important to take faster action against harmful posts ... and Facebook needs to move more quickly to remove harmful violative posts," Psaki added.
Johnson's rebuke of the White House and its latest actions are only the latest tussle the senator has had with government agencies and media, who have restricted or outright banned him for his stances on COVID-related issues. His suggestion to allow doctors to use hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the ailment received countless criticism, particularly from media outlets, despite some studies that said it showed a benefit.
''We found that when the cumulative doses of two drugs, HCQ and AZM, were above a certain level, patients had a survival rate 2.9 times the other patients,'' a study published by medRxiv stated.
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