Twitter locked the account of Donald Trump Jr. for approximately 12 hours, after the president's son posted a viral video of doctors touting Hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19.
BREAKING: @Twitter & @jack have suspended @DonaldJTrumpJr for posting a viral video of medical doctors talking about Hydroxychloroquine.
— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) July 28, 2020
Big Tech is the biggest threat to free expression in America today & they're continuing to engage in open election interference - full stop. pic.twitter.com/7dJbauq43O
The press conference, which received over 14 million views before it was blacklisted and scrubbed by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, featured members of America's Frontline Doctors - a recently formed advocacy group which claims that "American life has fallen casualty to a massive disinformation campaign" against Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) - a decades-old malaria drug used by India and several other countries as part of their front-line treatment of the novel coronavirus, yet which has shown mixed efficacy in studies.
The blacklisting began on Facebook following a complaint by New York Times columnist Kevin Roose.
The #2 most-engaged post on Facebook today is a Breitbart video of a group of doctors claiming that hydroxychloroquine is "a cure for Covid" and "you don't need a mask."
— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) July 28, 2020
14 million views in 6 hours. (For scale, Plandemic got ~8 million in a few days.)
After which a Facebook spokesman said that it was removed for "sharing false information about cures and treatments for COVID-19."
The video appears to have been taken down from Facebook.
— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) July 28, 2020
Social media companies are censoring videos of Dr. Stella Immanuel and the other doctors involved in real-time because that’s what Democrats want them to do. Many doctors & studies say hydroxychloroquine works. They don’t want @realDonaldTrump to be right. pic.twitter.com/v2xHu0hsM4
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) July 28, 2020
Reactions to Silicon Valley's decision to scrub the press conference, as well as Trump Jr.'s temporary suspension, have drawn the ire of supporters and free speech advocates alike.
Facebook isn't unbiased... the comms guy representing them on Twitter spent his ENTIRE CAREER working for Democrats in Congress before going to FACEBOOK. https://t.co/av8pSYKn4r
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) July 28, 2020
Now @YouTube has pulled the video of the doctors. I don’t care if you think the doctors are geniuses or nuts. If you value the foundations of our country, you should be questioning why social media companies are colluding to stop licensed doctors from expressing opinions freely.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) July 28, 2020
Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are taking this video down.
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) July 28, 2020
This is an extremely dangerous precedent to set for the media.
Posting a video does not necessarily mean you agree with all of it’s content or that it’s entirely true.
Big Tech should be careful for their own good.. pic.twitter.com/ECKk5rysx6
For those who dare view the dangerous wrongthink at the heart of the controversy and draw their own conclusions, click here.