Conservatives have long bemoaned the lack of viewpoint diversity in the discussion surrounding COVID-19, but for one Wall Street Journal columnist, the issue is personal.
Former New York Times reporter and author Alex Berenson claimed in a recent article for The Wall Street Journal that Amazon “has twice tried to suppress” several booklets that he wrote about COVID-19.
“Like the scientists who wrote the Great Barrington Declaration, I simply believe many measures to control the coronavirus have been damaging, counterproductive and unsupported by science,” wrote Berenson.
“Amazon has said earlier that ‘as a bookseller, we believe that providing access to the written word is important, including books that some may find objectionable.’ The company sells ‘Mein Kampf’ and ‘The Anarchist’s Cookbook.’ But when it comes to Covid, Amazon has a different standard,” he wrote.
But Amazon is not the only company Berenson mentioned in his article. “Google-owned YouTube censors even more aggressively,” he wrote. “The company disclosed in October that it had pulled more than 200,000 videos about the epidemic—including one from Scott Atlas, a physician who was advising President Trump. Facebook has not only censored videos and attached warning labels or ‘fact checks’ to news articles, but removed groups that oppose lockdowns and other restrictions.”
But Amazon is not the only player in the field of Big Tech censorship. Facebook and Twitter have also taken a harsh stance on COVID-19 material they apparently disagree with. Facebook decided to ban all political ads beginning on October 27. Also in October, Facebook removed and Twitter flagged a post from President Donald Trump in which he claimed that COVID-19 is less lethal “in most populations” than “the flu.” Facebook even decided that it would remove any content it deemed false regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. In April, Twitter decided that it would begin to remove tweets about COVID-19 that could lead to harmful activity.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representative and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
