all 1 comments

[–]stickdog[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Excerpt:

Joe Biden launched an “Orwellian Ministry of Truth” to shut down Covid dissent during the pandemic, a US judge has said.

In a ruling issued on Tuesday, Terry Doughty, a Louisiana District Court Judge, backed claims that the US president’s administration had engaged in a “massive” attempt to stop Americans questioning the efficacy of vaccines online.

He also issued a temporary ban on federal officials and agencies from meeting with social media company executives for the purpose of removing First Amendment-protected speech.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, a period perhaps best characterised by widespread doubt and uncertainty, the United States Government seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth’,” the judge, an appointee of former president Donald Trump, wrote in his 155-page opinion.

There was no immediate comment on the injunction from the White House, Google or Facebook. The measure can be appealed by the Biden administration at the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, US news outlet Politico reported.

The ruling came after it was revealed last month that UK ministers set up a counter-disinformation unit which was used to target lockdown critics and those questioning the mass vaccination of children.

The UK Government used an artificial intelligence firm to monitor social media sites and flag opposition to vaccine passports.

...