Facebook removed content related to Covid-19 in response to pressure from the Biden administration, including posts claiming the virus was man-made, according to internal company communications viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Facebook Bowed to White House Pressure, Removed Covid Posts – WSJ

And larger, more detailed story here: The Most Embarrassing “Facebook Files” Revelation? The Press, Exposed as Censors (racket.news)

Per internal Facebook documents, the Biden Administration pressured Facebook to censor Covid related posts the Administration did not like. This appears to be a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s protection for free speech.

The White House even requested take down of items that were humorous in nature, such as parody or satire cartoons and comments. Facebook might throttle views of the content, delete the content, suspend accounts or delete accounts completely and prohibit the use from accessing Facebook again.

The Biden Administration says that their goals was to encourage vaccine uptake – and therefore, censorship of Constitutionally protected speech was okay. Since the aims were virtuous, violating the Constitution was okay, they said. Democrats in Congress have argued against reducing content moderation policies, implying censorship by the government can be good.

(I am not anti-vaccine. From Dec 2019 to Dec 2022, I had 13 vaccination shots. The Covid vaccine controversy caused me to discuss with my doctor what vaccines I had had and what i should do to catch up. As a child, I was given polio and smallpox vaccines. No other vaccines were available then. I had chicken pox, measles and mumps as a child – but no one had said I should still get an MMR shot. Further since then, it is now recommended to get pneumonia, hepatitis A and B, and shingles vaccination. Plus I had 3 Covid shots and an annual flu shot. In the fall of 2023, I need to get a tetanus booster shot too.

I was scheduled for a 4th Covid vaccination but contracted hepatitis, and due to my illness and weakness at the time, I had to cancel the 4th shot. A few weeks later, in spite of 3 shots on board, I then contracted Covid. Fun times.

I was advised by my doctor to wait at least six months before getting more boosters. At the 6th month time frame, a revised booster was announced and it seemed pointless to get a 4th shot of a several year old vaccine, considering I had natural immunity by then, too, which is likely more durable, and it would be better to wait for an updated vaccine – but now a new revision is coming for fall of 2023. Hence, I’ve not had any more shots and have not been sick either.)