The public discourse in the United States went a step further this week, when White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki (below, on ABC) said in passing at a press conference Thursday, confirming Politico news:
“We report problematic posts on Facebook that spread disinformation.”
It was a seemingly common measure, to respond to the virtual suspension of vaccination at a level below the target announced by Joe Biden. But the targets, as Politico had argued, were “conservative opponents”. And it is not just the Conservatives who have reacted.
The immediate response came from journalists on the Substack platform, starting with Matt Taibbi, accusing the government of “turning Facebook into Stars and Stripes,” the Pentagon newspaper.
Taibbi was backed by Glenn Greenwald, also of Substack, saying that “the Supreme Court has already ruled that the First Amendment’s freedom of speech guarantee is violated when government officials pressure or coerce private actors into censorship.” .
From Taibbi and Greenwald, critics have jumped on Tucker Carlson, Fox News’ top-rated presenter, pointing out that it’s not just Facebook but phone operators being asked to delete SMS messages.
Now, he commented, “Misinformation is everything the Biden government doesn’t want you to know, including how effective vaccines really are and what the side effects might be.”
Faced with criticism, a day later on Friday, the spokesperson doubled her bet, arguing that “if you are banned from a social media platform”, for disinformation, “you should be banned from all platforms”. Listed 12 users.
Even voices closer to the Democratic establishment have revolted, such as the editor of the Daily Beast, recently announced as the editor of Rolling Stone, Noah Shachtman.
It was then that Biden himself came to Psaki’s defense, responding to White House reporters on what his message would be to platforms like Facebook: “They’re killing people.”
CNN, in the same vein, went on to point out that the government “has concluded that Facebook is not taking it seriously or is hiding something.”
And Facebook has already replied, about Biden, that he would not be “distracted by accusations that are not supported by the facts.”
EXTREME RIGHT THREAT
The Spanish Vox party did not like the cartoons of its leaders published by the humorous magazine El Jueves (above).
He posted the publisher’s name and photo on social media, claiming that he “spreads hatred against millions of Spaniards” and now “it is possible that many of them will start to demand responsibility when ‘they will see him leave his office on Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona.
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