Vivek Murthy, President Joe Biden’s Surgeon General, has recently suggested Joe Rogan and his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, should be censored in order to “reduce the spread of misinformation” in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, joined by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, delivers remarks and answers questions from member of the press Thursday, July 15, 2021, in the James S. Brady White House Press Briefing Room. (Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith)
The Surgeon General made this outrageous claim during an interview with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski. “What do you think are the best ways to push back on misinformation about COVID that continues to be aggressively pushed whether it be Joe Rogan’s podcast or all over Facebook?” asked the MSNBC reporter.
“Well, Mika, it’s such an important question, because we can have the best science available, we can have the best public health expertise available, but it won’t help people if they don’t have access to accurate information,” replied Murthy.
“There’s something I’ve always believed in as a doctor is that people have the right to make their own decisions, but they also have the right to have accurate information to make that decision with,” he continued.
Portrait of Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of the United States under President Biden.
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He went on, “Now, when it comes to how we root out the misinformation in society right now, and give people accurate information, we’ve got to do several things. Number one, we’ve got to recognise that our technology platforms, in particularly social media, these have an important role to play.”
“These are the predominant places where we’re seeing misinformation spread,” Murthy continued, explaining that “these platforms still not have stepped up to do the right thing — and do enough, I should say — to reduce the spread of misinformation.”
After singling out individuals who have a platform and a big following, Biden’s Surgeon General declared that their responsibility is “to make sure that we are thoughtful in what we are sharing,” specifying that this is “not just about entertainment, it’s not just about garnering clicks. This is about people’s lives. We have seen time and time again, misinformation costs people their lives. ”
Source: United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Murthy then asserted, “This is not just about what our government can do, this is about companies and individuals recognising that the only way we get past misinformation is if we are careful about what we see and we use the power that we have to limit the spread of that misinformation. That’s going to be a critical part about how we get through this pandemic.”
The “surgeon general” @vivek_murthy: “Critical part of how we get through this pandemic” is “limiting the spread of misinformation” from shows like @joerogan pic.twitter.com/xexarsaNDN
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 25, 2022
This wouldn’t be the first time Vivek Murthy encouraged technology companies to do something about the “spread of misinformation” about COVID-19 and vaccines.
Last year, in a fairly lengthy advisory titled ‘Confronting Health Misinformation‘ Biden’s Surgeon General provided tips for journalists, media organisations, and technology platforms to follow in order to confront health misinformation.
“Misinformation hasn’t just harmed our physical health — it has also divided our families, friends, and communities,” Murthy wrote in the advisory.
“The only way to address health misinformation is to recognize that all of us, in every sector of society, have a responsibility to act,” he later added.
Source: White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
As per Associated Press from July 2021, “The warning comes as the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations has slowed throughout the U.S., in part because of vaccine opposition fueled by unsubstantiated claims about the safety of immunizations and despite the U.S. death toll recently passing 600,000.”
At the White House, Murthy added, “Misinformation poses an imminent and insidious threat to our nation’s health. We must confront misinformation as a nation. Lives are depending on it. We must confront misinformation as a nation. Lives are depending on it.”
Source: U.S. Army, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Media companies have, indeed, targeted Joe Rogan and his eponymously-named podcast in the past. Earlier in January, the podcaster accused CNN of doctoring a video of himself announcing that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
Rogan’s accusation actually came months after he told his social media followers that he had tested positive for COVID-19 back in September of last year. At the time, CNN reported on the news and shared a video wherein the podcaster’s skin tone looked pale and sickly.
In a clip shared by Rogan to his personal Instagram account, the podcaster shared a video with the caption “Yellow Journalism” and the hashtag #fakenews, where he compares both his original video and CNN’s allegedly doctored video.
Earlier this month, YouTube removed the podcaster’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience that featured Dr. Robert W. Malone, virologist who worked on mRNA technology, as well as an episode featuring renowned cardiologist Peter McCullough.
Both Malone and McCullough have been fairly critical of the COVID-19 vaccination process, and social media platforms have been either slapping “misleading” labels on the coronavirus-related articles they’ve shared, or have been flat-out suspended from these platforms
Source: The Joe Rogan Experience #1757 – Dr. Robert Malone, MD
Late in December of last year, for example, Twitter made the decision to deplatform Dr. Robert W. Malone, after the virologist shared a presentation titled ‘The Pfizer Inoculations For COVID-19 – More Harm Than Good‘ for “repeated violations of our COVID-19 policy.”
Further, Malone is actually credited as the inventor on nine of the original mRNA vaccine patents filed in the late 1980s, and social media platforms like Twitter have turned a blind eye on the virologist’s credentials.
“Pfizer 6 month data which shows that Pfizer’s COVID-19 inoculations cause more illness than they prevent. Plus, an overview of the Pfizer trial flaws in both design and execution,” read the tweet that Malone shared before Twitter permanently suspended him.
Source: Robert W Malone, MD, Twitter
Cardiologist Peter McCullough had some harsh words in response to Biden’s Surgeon General’s recent comments about censoring Joe Rogan’s podcast.
“USSG sailing into rough waters attempting to censor my analyses of published data and presentation of original papers and slides on the pandemic response. America will not tolerate his attempts block transparency on safety/efficacy or the path forward. Rogan a giant media hero!” wrote McCullough throwing his full support behind the podcaster.
Source: Peter McCullough, Twitter
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In a follow-up tweet McCullough shared the next morning, the cardiologist wrote, “[United States Surgeon General] better read up on complications from the indiscriminate public program so he can sort out ‘information’ from ‘misinformation.'”
“He will be buried in papers with >1000 peer-reviewed publications on fatal and nonfatal organ injury syndromes,” he continued, calling out Murthy’s comments suggesting technology companies should censor content they deem as misinformation.
Source: Peter McCullough, Twitter
What do you make of Biden’s Surgeon General suggesting Joe Rogan’s podcast should be censored for “to reduce spread of misinformation” about COVID-19? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below or on social media.