Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry slammed Big Tech for removing a viral video of a group of doctors debunking COVID-19 myths
Landry accused social media giants of political bias, and he specifically called out Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for hiding behind the platform’s “algorithms” when confronted about Facebook’s habitual conservative censorship.
“It seems you and your team at Facebook choose to censor or misuse your algorithms to downplay voices on one side of issues while failing to do so on the other,” Landry wrote in a letter to Zuckerberg.
“This now appears to be true when it comes to treatments for COVID-19,” he continued. “I am asking that you respect the agency and intelligence of the American people to make their own decisions, free from your Orwellian benevolence.”
The video Landry referenced was removed by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for violating the platforms’ “COVID-19 misinformation policies.”
In the video, a group of licensed doctors advocated for the widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug believed to be an effective treatment against the coronavirus.
They also criticized state governments’ mask mandates and argued that a long-term shutdown would not prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The information the doctors provided might be controversial, Landry said, but the American public should decide for themselves what is and is not true—especially when the debate over hydroxychloroquine, specifically, is still ongoing.
“You can set aside hysteria, fear, and politics. You can give access to all the information available on this pandemic. You can allow users to make decisions for themselves,” Landry wrote to Zuckerberg.
Other Republicans have also criticized Big Tech for preventing users from making up their own minds.
Donald Trump Jr., who was temporarily suspended by Twitter for sharing the video, slammed Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the other social media giants for trying to force Americans to think a certain way by limiting what they can and cannot see on social media.
This times 1000! Big tech is trying to make you think the way that they do and the government is helping them do it. Enough is enough. https://t.co/r19vdyuaaj
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 29, 2020
