Striking revelation on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, Senator Rand Paul took to his official X (formerly Twitter) handle to expose an alleged conspiracy involving former Trump FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb and the Biden Administration. According to Paul, Gottlieb, who also serves as a Pfizer board member, colluded with key Biden officials to censor vaccine critics on Twitter.
Paul’s tweet stated, “Former Trump FDA commissioner Gottlieb and Pfizer board member conspired with Biden inner circle to have Twitter censor vaccine critics. Hoping to hear from former President Trump that swamp creatures like Gottlieb won’t be invited back in a 2nd term.”
The tweet linked to an article by journalist Alex Berenson titled “THE PFIZER/WHITE HOUSE FILES,” which provided extensive details on the alleged conspiracy. The article claimed that in July 2021, a senior Pfizer board member began secretly collaborating with a Biden Administration operative to suppress criticism of Covid vaccines on X. Newly released internal documents from X supported these allegations.
The documents indicated that top Twitter officials viewed Dr. Scott Gottlieb, Pfizer director, and Andy Slavitt, a former senior White House operative, as representatives of the Biden Administration in their efforts to censor vaccine critics.
The documents revealed significant constitutional and legal concerns about the Biden Administration’s involvement in social media censorship. The revelations are particularly timely as the Supreme Court is poised to rule on Murthy v Missouri, a landmark case challenging the administration’s control over social media debate.
Previously unreleased internal documents from X shed light on the extent of censorship efforts aimed at maintaining public confidence in Covid vaccines. These documents also highlighted the influence the White House had over Twitter, which was keen to avoid any confrontation with the administration.
The Biden Administration was reportedly threatening to review Section 230, a federal law providing social media companies with immunity against lawsuits from users. Twitter took this threat seriously, as indicated by Lauren Culbertson, the company’s then-head of U.S. public policy.
The censorship-related documents are being made available by X following searches of its internal archives. Lawyers for X are currently reviewing these documents to ensure no sensitive information about junior employees is disclosed. Notably, Elon Musk and other X executives did not interfere with the writing of the piece.
This revelation underscores the complex dynamics between government officials, pharmaceutical companies, and social media platforms in managing public discourse on critical issues like vaccine safety.
