Facebook's Lab-Leak About-Face

"Question: When does "misinformation" stop being misinformation on social media? Answer: When Democratic government authorities give permission.

Witness Facebook's decision to stop censoring some claims about the origin of Covid-19 the same day President Biden said his Administration will investigate whether a Chinese lab may have been involved.

It's been clear for more than a year that the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which collects and tests coronaviruses, deserved scrutiny over the emergence of the pandemic in Wuhan. Yet Facebook announced in February that it would expand its content moderation on Covid-19 to include "false" and "debunked" claims such as that "COVID-19 is man-made or manufactured." Facebook deployed fact-check warnings against an influential Medium post this month on the origins of the virus by science journalist Nicholas Wade.

As long as Democratic opinion sneered at the lab-leak theory, Facebook dutifully controlled it. But ideological bubbles have a way of bursting, and the circumstantial evidence -- most of which has been available for months -- finally permeated the insular world of progressive public health. This prompted officials like Anthony Fauci to say more investigation is needed, while the White House issued new intelligence directives reflecting lower certainty of a natural emergence.

Facebook acted in lockstep with the government: "In light of ongoing investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and in consultation with public health experts, we will no longer remove the claim that COVID-19 is man-made or manufactured from our apps," it said Wednesday.

The shift is better late than never, but note the apparent implication: While a political or scientific claim is disfavored by government authorities, Facebook will limit its reach. When government reduces its hostility toward an idea, so will Facebook.

YouTube's Covid-19 policy similarly forbids contradicting "health authorities." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is run by a political appointee and its evolving guidance is clearly influenced by political considerations. YouTube, owned by Google, used this policy to remove a roundtable on virus response with scientists and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Perhaps the social-media giants think their censorship carries more legitimacy if they can appeal to government. In fact such coordination makes censorship even more suspect. Free speech protects the right to challenge government. But instead of acting as private actors with their own speech rights, the companies are mandating conformity with existing government views.

In 2019 a wiser Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO, said "I don't think it's right for a private company to censor politicians or the news in a democracy." If he'd stuck to that spirit instead of bending to pressure, he'd have avoided this embarrassment, and the more like it that are sure to come." [1]

American Democrats rule Facebook, and Facebook rules Lithuanian conservatives and liberals. 

1.Facebook's Lab-Leak About-Face
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]28 May 2021: A.14.