As our knowledge about the COVID-19 virus has grown and shifted, so too has the guidance about what to do to stop its spread. That’s why the Biden administration’s new guidelines to halt the sharing of so-called misinformation are troubling: Not only do they pose a clear and growing threat to our free speech rights, they ignore the fact that what we know about public health is constantly evolving, and that being able to communicate freely about these changes and about medical innovations can make a life-or-death difference — for this virus and for many other diseases.
In a 22-page Advisory issued in July by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, the White House characterizes misinformation as a “serious threat to public health” that has hindered vaccination efforts, encouraged opposition to masking, and led to the harassment of public health workers. To combat these problems, the Advisory, among many other troubling directives, instructs technology companies to “redesign recommendation algorithms to avoid amplifying misinformation,” strengthen “monitoring of misinformation,” impose “clear consequences” on those who communicate disfavored messages, and to “amplify communications from trusted messengers and subject matter experts.”
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