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The Children’s Health Defense legal team, led by Robert
Kennedy Jr., is suing Facebook, its CEO Mark Zuckerberg and three of their
fact-checkers.
CHD filed the lawsuit August 17, 2020, charging them with “censoring
truthful public health posts and for fraudulently misrepresenting and defaming
CHD.” The complaint alleges that Facebook’s alliances with Big Pharma and
public health agencies like the CDC, and its connections to Big Industry all
influence the so-called “fact-checking” done by the fact-checkers Facebook
hires.
The three fact-checkers include The Poynter Institute, which
bills itself as a “global leader in journalism” that believes that a free press
is essential; PolitiFact, a branch of The Poynter Institute that says
fact-checking journalism is its “heart;” and Science Feedback, a French
organization that claims it verifies the “credibility” of “influential” science
claims in the media. One to 20 other unnamed “Does” are included in the suit.
The lawsuit also claims that “Facebook acknowledges that it
coordinates its censorship campaign with the WHO and the CDC,” and that this
censorship constitutes a violation of the First Amendment. The lawsuit also
accuses Democratic Congressman and Intelligence Committee chairman, Rep. Adam
Schiff, of initiating and supporting the suppression of free thought and ideas.
SOURCES:
Children’sHealth Defense August 18, 2020
Children’s
Health Defense v. Facebook, et al, August 17, 2020
Poynter, About,
2020
PolitiFact,
Our Process, 2020
Science
Feedback, About, 2020