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Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt Vows to ‘End COVID Tyranny’ of CDC and NIH
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) introduced a bill Thursday that would give Congress greater oversight of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a copy of the measure exclusively obtained by The Post.
The bill, known as the “End COVID Tyranny Act,” would mandate congressional appointment and term limits for the directors of both agencies, as well as require a majority vote by both chambers to approve a public health emergency lasting longer than 90 days.
An advisory committee for the CDC director would also be appointed by Congress and with the approval of the U.S. Comptroller General. The measure would further mandate foreign research labs that receive U.S. government funding to pass quarterly inspections on animal welfare and cleanliness standards.
Many controversial COVID-era policies bypassed legislative approval, with federal and state authorities unilaterally imposing lockdowns, mask mandates and vaccine passports — only to face criticism and reverse course later.
Much of the frustration focused on conflicting public health advice from figures like NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, who pushed for strict COVID mandates while downplaying theories that the virus had leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China that was engaging in risky gain-of-function research funded by NIH.
Texas AG Paxton Suing Pfizer for Attempted Censorship, ‘Misrepresenting’ COVID Vaccination
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announced Thursday he is suing the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, alleging the company “misrepresented” the effectiveness of its widely administered COVID-19 vaccine.
In his announcement, Paxton accused Pfizer of violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by making “false, deceptive, and misleading acts and practices by making unsupported claims regarding the company’s COVID-19 vaccine.”
The lawsuit alleges that Pfizer gave the impression its vaccine would end the COVID-19 pandemic and that the company’s claims of its shot being 95% effective were misleading. “We are pursuing justice for the people of Texas, many of whom were coerced by tyrannical vaccine mandates to take a defective product sold by lies,” Paxton said in a statement.
“The facts are clear. Pfizer did not tell the truth about their COVID-19 vaccines,” he added. “Whereas the Biden Administration weaponized the pandemic to force illegal public health decrees on the public and enrich pharmaceutical companies, I will use every tool I have to protect our citizens who were misled and harmed by Pfizer’s actions.”
It also accuses Pfizer of using social media to “intimidate” and “silence prominent truth-tellers,” specifically singling out former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who sits on Pfizer’s board of directors and became a prominent voice on immunization practices during the pandemic.
Jim Jordan Subpoenas Ex-White House Censorship Chief Rob Flaherty Over ‘Constitutionally Protected’ Expression
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Thursday subpoenaed President Biden’s former White House director of digital strategy Rob Flaherty to testify about his actions to pressure digital platforms to censor content — ahead of what is expected to be a landmark Supreme Court case centered on his actions.
Flaherty must sit for committee questions on Jan. 11, Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote in the legally binding demand for testimony, which follows unsuccessful attempts to force the ex-administration official to testify in a state lawsuit brought by Missouri and Louisiana, which the Supreme Court will consider in its coming term.
“The Committee has obtained documents that demonstrate the central role you played in communicating the Biden White House’s censorship efforts to social media companies, including the White House’s demands to censor true information, memes, satire, and other constitutionally protected forms of expression,” Jordan wrote to Flaherty, who left the White House in June for a position with Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign.
Meta Is Struggling to Boot Pedophiles off Facebook and Instagram
The Wall Street Journal reported:
Meta Platforms has spent months trying to fix child-safety problems on Instagram and Facebook, but it is struggling to prevent its own systems from enabling and even promoting a vast network of pedophile accounts.
The social media giant set up a child-safety task force in June after The Wall Street Journal and researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst revealed that Instagram’s algorithms connected a web of accounts devoted to the creation, purchasing and trading of underage sex content.
Five months later, tests conducted by the Journal as well as by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection show that Meta’s recommendation systems still promote such content. The company has taken down hashtags related to pedophilia, but its systems sometimes recommend new ones with minor variations. Even when Meta is alerted to problem accounts and user groups, it has been spotty in removing them.
The tests show that the problem extends beyond Instagram to encompass the much broader universe of Facebook Groups, including large groups explicitly centered on sexualizing children. Facebook, which counts more than three billion monthly users worldwide, promotes its groups feature as a way to connect users with similar interests.
The Stanford Internet Observatory, which has been examining internet platforms’ handling of child-sex content, credited Meta in a September report with some progress, but said of the connection among pedophiles on Instagram that “the overall ecosystem remains active, with significant room for improvement in content enforcement.”
Meta Must Clarify Measures Against Child Sexual Abuse by Dec. 22, EU Says
Meta Platforms (META.O) was told by EU tech regulators on Friday to provide more details on measures taken to tackle child sexual abuse material on its photo and video sharing app Instagram by Dec. 22 or risk a formal investigation under new EU online content rules.
The European Commission in October sent a first request for information on measures taken to counter the spread of terrorist and violent content, and a second last month on measures to protect minors. “Information is also requested about Instagram’s recommender system and amplification of potentially harmful content,” the European Commission said in a statement on its latest query.
The request for information was done under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), new tech rules requiring Big Tech to do more to police illegal and harmful content on their platforms. Failure to comply with such requests can lead to a formal probe and even fines.
Chinese conglomerate ByteDance’s TikTok and Elon Musk‘s X have also received similar requests for information.
U.S. Judge Blocks Montana From Banning TikTok Use in State
A U.S. judge late on Thursday blocked Montana’s first-of-its-kind state ban on the use of short-video sharing app TikTok from taking effect on Jan. 1, saying it violated the free speech rights of users.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy issued a preliminary injunction to block the ban on the Chinese-owned app, saying the state ban “violates the Constitution in more ways than one” and “oversteps state power.”
TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, sued Montana in May, seeking to block the U.S. state ban on several grounds, arguing that it violates the First Amendment free speech rights of the company and users.
TikTok users in Montana also filed suit to block the ban approved by the state legislature which cited concerns about the personal data of Montana users and potential Chinese spying.
