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Vaccine Manufacturer Is Reprimanded for Online Censorship Attempts
In a stern measure that has been widely hailed by free speech advocates, the German Council for Public Relations, a standards-setting body, has officially reprimanded BioNTech, a partner of Pfizer, for attempting to silence critics on X.
As reported by Lee Fang, BioNTech’s attempted censorship was aimed at activists who have been critical of the pharmaceutical industry’s reluctance to share intellectual property rights, thus hindering the production of generic, low-cost COVID-19 vaccines. The company reached out to Twitter executives back in 2020, seeking to suppress these voices.
Further investigation into the relationship between social media and the pharmaceutical industry has exposed the extent to which companies have sought to influence online discourse. Pfizer and other pharmaceutical giants financed a group known as Public Good Projects (PGP) through the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.
The PGP was granted special access to Twitter and even advised the company on which forms of information to censor. Emails reveal that PGP frequently flagged tweets and accounts as dangerous “misinformation,” including those that merely criticized vaccine policies or mandates.
The House Judiciary Committee’s request for documents from Pfizer’s CEO, Albert Bourla, is expected to uncover more about the BioNTech censorship request and initiatives like the Pfizer-funded PGP campaign.
Colorado’s Childhood Immunization Rates Decline as Exemptions Rise
Immunizations among school-age children continue to decline in Colorado, falling below 90% for the second year in a row.
What’s happening: More parents are exempting their children from the required vaccines, up to 4% at the kindergarten level, on religious or medical grounds.
The intrigue: Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat who opposes vaccine mandates, is at the center of the debate. He worked to defeat a bill in 2019 that would have made it harder for parents to claim an exemption from required immunizations. Instead, he signed an executive order to increase education and study the issue.
Elon Musk Accuses Australia’s ABC of Embracing Censorship After It Shut Down Twitter/X Accounts
Elon Musk has accused the ABC of embracing censorship after Australia’s public broadcaster drastically reduced its presence on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Well of course they prefer censorship-friendly social media,” Musk posted on X in reply to an ABC news report about the move. “The Australian public does not.”
The ABC’s managing director, David Anderson, on Wednesday, said the broadcaster was shutting down almost all of its official accounts on X. He cited “toxic interactions” on the social media site as a reason for the decision, along with the cost and better interactions with ABC content on other platforms.
Anderson said the vast majority of the ABC’s social media audience was located on official sites on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
FTC Health Data Breach Rule Scrutinized
In May, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a sweeping expansion of health data privacy rules, and now, the period for the public to weigh in has ended.
While many comments were supportive, others were concerned that the FTC was overstepping its authority, opening itself up to litigation, and urged more clarity.
What’s new in the rule: The proposal would clarify that health app developers would be subject to regulations requiring them to notify customers if their identifiable data is accessed by hackers or business partners or shared for marketing without patient approval. The rule would include those offering health services and supplies — broadly defined to include fitness, sleep, diet and mental health products and services, among a laundry list of categories.
The proposal aims to clarify how the FTC plans to expand its use of a 14-year-old rule. Earlier this year, it used the rule in relation to sharing data with business partners for the first time against GoodRx, settling for $1.5 million and accusing the site of sharing data with Google, Facebook and other firms.
U.K. Defends Plan to Demand Access to Encrypted Messages to Protect Children
British technology minister Michelle Donelan defended plans to require messaging apps to provide access to encrypted private messages when needed to protect children from abuse, which major platforms say would undermine the privacy of their users.
Donelan told the BBC that the government was not against encryption, and the access would only be requested as a last resort, under Britain’s Online Safety Bill which is expected to become law later this year.
Meta-owned (META.O) WhatsApp, Signal and other messaging apps have opposed the plan, arguing that the law could give an “unelected official the power to weaken the privacy of billions of people around the world.”
The dispute is part of a wider debate between large tech companies, which say they are protecting free speech, and governments which say they are defending citizens from harmful content online.
‘Think Again’: Rubio Warns Americans Against TikTok, Wants It Banned
In his latest step in his fight against the pernicious influence of TikTok, Florida GOP Senator Marco Rubio called for the banning of Chinese-controlled TikTok in an opinion piece published Tuesday.
“TikTok’s public-policy chief blatantly lied under oath when he denied US data is stored in China,” Rubio wrote in his piece published by The New York Post. “ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, was caught in October using the app to spy on American journalists.”
“TikTok’s public-policy chief blatantly lied under oath when he denied US data is stored in China,” Rubio wrote in his piece published by The New York Post. “ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, was caught in October using the app to spy on American journalists.”
