**Is Free Speech Killing Us? FDA Commissioner Declares "Misinformation" A Medical Risk**
Is Free Speech Killing Us? FDA Commissioner Declares "Misinformation" A Medical Risk
_Authored by Jonathan Turley,_ (https://jonathanturley.org/2023/04/15/is-free-speech-killing-us-fda-commissioner-declares-misinformation-a-medical-risk/)
Last year, we discussed (https://jonathanturley.org/2022/01/28/who-head-tedros-supports-corporate-censorship-to-combat-the-infodemic/) the declaration of WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that censorship was needed to combat what he called the “infodemic.” It was a jarring position given the censorship of experts and scientists who have now been vindicated in raising questions over mask protection to natural immunities to school closings to the origins of Covid 19. Nevertheless, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf added his own voice to call for censorship. Califf declared that life expectancy rates are being suppressed due to “misinformation.” His call for action against ill-defined “disinformation” or “misinformation” is being echoed throughout the Biden Administration.
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In a CNBC interview, (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/11/us-life-expectancy-hurt-by-misinformation-fda-commissioner-robert-califf.html) Califf lashed out at “health misinformation” which he said was one of his top priorities to address through “specific authorities at FDA, FTC and other areas.”
Califf noted:
> “You think about the impact of a single person reaching a billion people on the internet all over the world, we just weren’t prepared for that. We don’t have societal rules that are adjudicating it quite right, and I think it’s impacting our health in very detrimental ways.”
**He does not elaborate on what would be those “societal rules” for “adjudication” of access to information. However, it holds a familiar ring for free speech advocates.**
In recent months, the Twitter Files revealed an extensive and secret effort by the FBI and other agencies (https://jonathanturley.org/2023/03/06/more-trout-than-milk-twitter-releases-more-evidence-of-government-censorship-operations/) to censor citizens on social media. I testified (https://jonathanturley.org/2023/02/09/turley-testifies-on-censorship-before-house-select-subcommittee/) on that effort. New emails (https://jonathanturley.org/2023/03/26/new-documents-expose-government-censorship-efforts-at-facebook-and-whatsapp/) uncovered in the ongoing _Missouri v. Biden_ litigation reportedly show that the Biden Administration’s censorship efforts extended to Facebook to censor private communications on its WhatsApp messaging service.
**We also know of backchannel communications with the CDC (https://jonathanturley.org/2022/08/24/twitters-tricky-timing-problem-lawsuit-reveals-back-cdc-channel-to-coordinate-censorship/) and other agencies.**
As officials like Califf call for continued crackdowns, there is no recognition of how the government worked to silence opposing views that have been vindicated in recent months.
**For years, scientists faced censorship for even raising the lab theory as a possible explanation for the virus.** Their reputations and careers were shredded by a media flash mob. The Washington Post declared this a “debunked” coronavirus “conspiracy theory (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/media-interested-now-in-covid-19-theory-they-said-couldnt-possibly-be-true__;!!F0Stn7g!CNp1B8Kpm5wLo4ddcSRS2-NCy3iqoum8Z1dF8BgV0QzqumAWyghGdgRgCUp1vIgSiQ6I2pjK90l3ad5aifs$).” The New York Times’ Science and Health reporter Apoorva Mandavilli was calling any mention of the lab theory “racist.” (https://jonathanturley.org/2021/05/28/please-dont-write-about-it-new-york-times-science-reporter-declares-lab-leak-theory-racist/)
When a Chinese researcher told Fox News that this was man-made, the network was attacked and the left-leaning _PolitiFact_ slammed her (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/politifact-retracts-wuhan-lab-theory-fact-check__;!!F0Stn7g!CNp1B8Kpm5wLo4ddcSRS2-NCy3iqoum8Z1dF8BgV0QzqumAWyghGdgRgCUp1vIgSiQ6I2pjK90l3VtHGGZE$) a “pants on fire rating.”
The mask mandate and other pandemic measures like the closing of schools are now cited as fueling emotional and developmental problems in children. The closing of schools and businesses (https://jonathanturley.org/2022/02/02/study-lockdowns-did-little-to-combat-covid-mortality/) was challenged by some critics as unnecessary. Many of those critics were also censored. It now appears that they may have been right. Many countries did not close schools and did not experience increases in Covid. However, we are n…