Nurse ordered to pay $93K for online comments

British Columbia nurse Amy Hamm, whose 2020 co-sponsorship of a billboard praising J.K. Rowling led to a years-long investigation of her online comments by the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives, has been suspended and ordered to pay the College almost $100,000. 

B.C. nurse suspended by college, asked to pay $94K in costs for comments about transgender people | CBC News | Canadian Press:

August 16, 2025 - "A B.C. nurse has been suspended and asked to pay nearly $94,000 in costs for making 'discriminatory and derogatory statements' about transgender people. The B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives says a disciplinary panel has issued a decision against Amy Hamm, suspending her for one month while also ordering her to pay the college costs and disbursements within two years.

"The panel said in its verdict in March that Hamm committed professional misconduct for making statements across 'various online platforms' between July 2018 and March 2021 that were partly designed 'to elicit fear, contempt and outrage against members of the transgender community.' The college says Hamm has filed an appeal of the discipline order in B.C. Supreme Court, and the decision on penalty and costs is stayed until that appeal has been resolved.... 

"Hamm has maintained that she is not transphobic, and she takes issue with an 'infringement on women and children's rights,' and was particularly concerned with transgender women having access to women-only spaces like prisons and change rooms. She previously said she completely rejects the concept of gender identity, calling it 'anti-scientific, metaphysical nonsense,' and on social media posts has referred to transgender women as men. 

"Hamm has received supportive statements from a wave of online followers, including author J.K. Rowling, and has written several columns for a variety of media outlets on multiple issues, including politics and crime, as well as sex and gender. She helped pay for a billboard in Vancouver supporting Rowling after she shared her views on gender identity online."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/amy-hamm-discipline-bc-nurse-1.7610933

Amy Hamm with billboard in 2020. (Photo courtesy Amy Hamm / JCCF).

BC College of Nurses and Midwives orders Amy Hamm to pay $93,639.80 and suspends her license for one month | Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (news release):

August 14, 2025 - "Ms. Hamm had worked in healthcare for over 13 years and had been promoted to be a nurse educator. In 2020, she co-sponsored a Vancouver billboard that read, 'I ♥ JK Rowling,' referencing the author’s support for women’s rights and the right of women to access female-only spaces, such as washrooms, crisis centres, sporting events, and prisons. Following complaints from activists and a Vancouver city councillor, the billboard was removed, and two formal complaints were filed with the College accusing Ms. Hamm of transphobia and hate speech.

"The College launched an investigation that led to a 332-page report examining Ms. Hamm’s public statements between 2018 and 2021, including tweets, articles, and podcasts. The College’s Inquiry Committee argued that Ms. Hamm had made discriminatory and derogatory comments about transgender people while identifying as a nurse. After 22 days of hearings spanning a year and a half, the College’s disciplinary panel ruled that four of her statements amounted to unprofessional conduct.

"Ms. Hamm has already appealed the College’s finding of unprofessional conduct to the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Her lawyer, Lisa Bildy, noted, 'In our view, the panel made a number of legal and factual errors that make the decision unsound, and we look forward to arguing these points before the BC Supreme Court. We are now considering whether to appeal the penalty decision as well.... This decision effectively penalizes a nurse for expressing mainstream views aligned with science and common sense,' continued Ms. Bildy. 'The Panel’s ruling imposes a chilling effect on free expression for all regulated professionals.'

"Ms. Hamm said, 'The College has chosen to punish me for statements that are not hateful, but truthful. I’m appealing because biological reality matters, and so does freedom of expression. I want to express my thanks to the thousands of Canadians who continue to fund my legal case through donations to the Justice Centre.'"

Read more: https://www.jccf.ca/bc-college-orders-amy-hamm-to-pay-93639-80/

Trudeau gov't quietly drops its Meta ad boycott

The Trudeau government has quietly dropped its much-ballyhooed advertising boycott of Meta, imposed in retaliation for the social media company banning news on its platforms in Canada fpllowing passage of the Online News Act.

Trudeau Gov’t Backtracks on Meta Ban, Drops $100K on Facebook Ads | iPhone in Canada | Austin Blake: 

February 6, 2025 - "The federal government has quietly resumed advertising on Meta’s platforms, despite the tech giant’s ongoing ban on Canadian news to adhere to the Online News Act. Ottawa is now spending up to $100,000 to promote the GST rebate on Facebook and Instagram — less than a year after pulling ads over Meta’s refusal to pay news outlets under Bill C-18, or the Online News Act, reports CTV News.

"A spokesperson for the Privy Council Office (PCO) confirmed the government deemed it 'essential' that Canadians receive credible information about government programs. Advertising for the GST tax holiday started last month on January 23.

"The decision has sparked backlash from [legacy] media organizations. News Media Canada President Paul Deegan called it a bad move, arguing taxpayer dollars should support Canadian media, not U.S. tech giants.... The Canadian Association of Broadcasters similarly slammed the government, saying there are plenty of Canadian media companies that could help the government spread its message — while also helping to keep professional journalists employed.

"Meta has been blocking the sharing of Canadian news links on Facebook and Instagram since July 2023, in response to federal legislation requiring tech giants to compensate news outlets. While the government once took a strong stance against Meta, the return to advertising suggests a softening of its position.... Canadians on Facebook are bypassing the bill by sharing screenshots of news instead. So in the end, publishers are losing money as users see their stories but don’t click through to sites for generating ad revenue....

"Back in December 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters, 'We will continue to push Meta, that makes billions of dollars in profits, even though it is refusing to invest in the journalistic rigor and stability of the media.' The latest move reeks of the pot calling the kettle black it seems, according to critics."

Read more: https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/2025/02/06/trudeau-govt-backtracks-on-meta-ban-drops-100k-on-facebook-ads/

Report calls for online disinformation watchdog

Canadian civil liberties groups gave a cool reception to the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference's call for a new federal watchdog to monitor social media for "disinformaton."

Foreign interference inquiry calls for government agency to monitor online misinformation | True North | Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire:

January 28, 2025 - "Mary-Josee Hogue, the commissioner of the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions, released her final report Tuesday.... Among the 51 recommendations was for the government to establish a federal watchdog for foreign disinformation campaigns on social media. 

"'The government should consider creating a government entity to monitor the domestic open-source online information environment for misinformation and disinformation that could impact Canadian democratic processes,' Hogue said in the report. 

"The proposed entity would work with national security and intelligence agencies, international partners and 'appropriate civil society and private organizations' ... [with] authority to 'interact with' social media platforms.... Hogue said the entity should also sit on the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force, or SITE-TF.... 

"Also among the commissioner’s 60-page report was for the Canada Elections Act to be amended to ban 'false information from being spread to undermine the legitimacy of an election or its results'."
Read more: https://tnc.news/2025/01/28/foreign-interference-inquiry-government-monitor-online-misinformation/

Civil liberties groups warn about inquiry’s recommendation for “foreign disinfo” monitor | True North | Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire:

January 30, 2025 - "The Canadian Constitution Foundation and Open Media have raised concerns over Commissioner Mary-Josee Hogue’s final report on foreign interference. They say that Hogue’s 11th recommendation to establish a 'government entity' to monitor social media for disinformation and misinformation could be used as a 'back door' to target Canadians with government censorship and privacy violations. The recommendation, one of 51 recommendations to bolster Canada’s defence against foreign interference in its elections, suggests that the “entity” has the authority to 'give and receive intelligence and information.' It also says the government should consider giving the new government agency the authority to 'interact' with social media platforms, though it does not define what the term 'interact' would entail....

"Matt Hatfield, the executive director of the online civil liberties group Open Media told True North that the recommendations are just vague enough that they could be used to justify 'both bad and good ideas'.... He said it is 'critical' that any power to compel data from social media platforms be 'very carefully' described so it can’t easily be abused to surveil or silence Canadians. 

"Christine van Geyn, the litigation director of the CCF, laid out her concerns on the most recent episode of the CCF’s civil liberties podcast, 'Not Reserving Judgement,' on Wednesday. 'There is an issue with defining what disinformation or misinformation is, and this is actually an issue that’s been created by the government,' she said. 'No one trusts these terms anymore, and it’s because of the way the government conducted it has conducted itself in large part during the pandemic.' She noted that the government had claimed many subjects were disinformation, only for those topics to be later revealed by the government or journalists to be founded in truth or a matter of opinion.

"'Giving authority to a new agency to monitor online behaviour and develop intelligence information, I think, is a gateway to collecting information about citizens posting things online that the government doesn’t like or disagrees with,” Van Geyn said. She said there are still people who claim the freedom convoy was a foreign-funded disinformation campaign, naming Liberal leadership candidate Mark Carney as one such offender. 

"Van Geyn noted an Op-Ed the central banker wrote in the Globe and Mail where he said anyone donating to the Freedom Convoy 'should be in no doubt: You are funding sedition' and that foreign funders of 'the insurrection' interfered 'from the start.' 'This just wasn’t true. You know, 88% of the donations on GoFundMe were from Canadians, both Give-Send-Go and GoFundMe said there were zero donations from Russia or China,' Van Geyn said. She said even the CBC repeated the narrative that the Kremlin was behind the protest, and she worries that the state will wield the new government entity to crack down on similarly unfounded concerns."
Read more: https://tnc.news/2025/01/30/civil-liberties-warn-foreign-disinfo-monitor/

Under-16s banned from social media in Australia

Children and teenagers under 16 to be banned from social media after parliament passes world-first laws | ABC News | Maani Truu:

November 28, 2024 - "Children and teenagers under the age of 16 will be banned from social media after the government's world-first laws passed parliament late on the final sitting week of the year.... Children and teenagers will be banned from using social media from the end of next year.... That means anyone under the age of 16 will be blocked from using platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook, a move the government and the Coalition argue is necessary to protect their mental health and wellbeing.

"The late vote capped off a frantic evening in the Senate, where the government managed to ram through most of its legislative agenda on the final full sitting day of the year. Coalition senators Matt Canavan and Alex Antic crossed the floor to vote with the entire crossbench against the laws, which received mixed reviews from mental health experts during a snap Senate inquiry this week. Liberal Richard Colbeck abstained.... Liberal MP Bridget Archer also broke with her party earlier in the week to vote with the Greens and a handful of independents against the bill in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

"The major parties had moved quickly to pass the legislation before the end of the parliamentary year, despite reservations from some Coalition MPs, the Greens and independents who called for more time and greater scrutiny.

"Under the laws, which won't come into force for another 12 months, social media companies could be fined up to $50 million for failing to take 'reasonable steps' to keep under 16s off their platforms. There are no penalties for young people or parents who flout the rules. Social media companies also won't be able to force users to provide government identification, including the Digital ID, to assess their age.

"'Messaging apps,' 'online gaming services' and 'services with the primary purpose of supporting the health and education of end-users' will not fall under the ban, as well as sites like YouTube that do not require users to log in to access the platform.

"The bill was introduced to parliament last Thursday and was referred for a Senate inquiry the same day. Submissions to the inquiry closed on Friday, a three-hour hearing was held on Monday, and the report was tabled on Tuesday. Almost all the submissions raised concerns about the "extremely short" consultation period, the committee report noted."

Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-28/social-media-age-ban-passes-parliament/104647138

Australia Bans Social Media for Anyone Under 16 | Bloomberg Technology | November 29, 2024:

No experts found to re-educate Jordan Peterson

Almost two years after ordering Dr. Jordan Peterson to undergo social media re-education, the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario has not been able to find a social media expert to re-educate him. 

Jordan Peterson: Alas, no re-educator to be found | National Post | Jordan Peterson:

October 11, 2024 - "It may amuse all of you who have become somewhat cynical in recent years to hear what has most lately become of my battle with the tyrants of compassion and masters of incompetence at the Ontario College of Psychologists and (more recently) Behaviour Analysts — a recent unnecessary change.... I have been scheduled for an indefinite course of professional education by appointees of that institution for expressing my opinions in a country that apparently no longer considers that acceptable for its professionals (depending, of course, on the opinions). I appealed that decision, to the highest court in the land — a legal entreaty that was rejected as of Aug. 27.

"A few days after that I sent in a request to the powers that be at the college, requesting, in all due humility, the names of the wizards or witches who stood at the ready to re-educate me:... I had been previously provided with a document that listed the 'social media experts' at the ready to perform their magical incantations on my recalcitrant psyche — despite the fact that there is no such profession as 'social media expert'.... One problem remained, and a serious one, indeed, practically speaking: the very lines in the document that contained the identifying information of the experts (names, email addresses, professional standing, and telephone numbers) had been redacted, no doubt to protect their fragile and hoping-to-be anonymous selves against the reactions of the legions of reactionary trolls I would unleash in my indefensible efforts to defend myself.

"A response was soon forthcoming, in written form: due to some (conveniently undescribed) administrative confusion, the names were presently unavailable. The good people at the college were, however — in their great benevolence and wisdom — willing to extend my three-month purgatorial period, perhaps indefinitely (?), while the necessary information was rounded up and provided. 

"A few weeks hence their lawyers contacted my lawyers and informed the latter and me that a settlement offer might be possible.... Their first offer was (get this — and I still can’t believe it): 'If Dr. Peterson agrees to resign, we would be willing to forego the legal costs the court ruled he owes us!' That was some two dozen thousands of dollars, a not inconsiderable sum (although a mere pittance in comparison to what their decade-long campaign of harassment and petty torment has cost me — some 25 times that amount in direct legal fees alone, an amount sufficient to bankrupt the typical target of their inquiry, particularly in combination with the devastation of professional income that all-too-often accompanies such inquisition. Thus, their opening gambit was based on the assumptions (1) that I could be bought and (2) that I could be bought cheaply....

"After we dispensed with that offer, ... the truth came so painfully out — and this is the main point of this missive: despite pursuing me for nearly 10 years; despite their endless public proclamations about their readiness to dispense justice upon me; despite their insistence of the mavens of the college that I was in desperate need of pretty much a comprehensive psychic restructuring and public shaming — despite my agreement, private and public, to go ahead with exactly that, in pillories and stock, accepting the tar and chicken feathers — there was not a single available 'social media expert' available at hand to take on the task!

"This could be a consequence of a direct warning I had made in a very public discussion about this matter with my daughter Mikhaila Fuller, posted on my YouTube channel, where I said (with all due and genuine concern for my hypothetical teacher) something approximating: 'Don’t take the job! I will make EVERY BIT OF IT public, and in the most broadly distributed sort of way! Millions of people are hungry to watch me be re-educated, friend and foe alike, popcorn in hand, eating up both the scandal and the snack. In consequence, the life of whomsoever is narcissistic, clueless or ideologically-addled enough to take on the task will never be the same!' I don’t know, of course, if it was that specific warning that did the trick.... 

"So, that’s where we stand, Canadians.... I will sign off, finally, with this.

"I made the college a fair offer, very publicly.... There was no evidence whatsoever in the consequent approach of the college negotiators to me that they had considered anything I had written.... This is yet more evidence, if evidence is needed, of their essential bad faith and intransigent, punitive, self-righteous bureaucratic stubbornness and blindness. They approached me, instead, with the ultimate in foolishness, compounding their errors.... Then they admitted that they did not have the wherewithal or the ability to undertake administering the very re-education process they have so publicly and continually demanded I submit myself to. God only knows how it will all end. But it certainly appears, as of the current moment, that the much-vaunted and much-moralized-publicly-about re-education efforts of the Ontario College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts have been brought to a shuddering and shameful halt, not least because of the utter indefensibility of their own position."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/jordan-peterson-alas-no-re-educator-to-be-found

Reaction to Supreme Court of Canada Ruling and Mandated Re-Education | Jordan B Peterson | August 9, 2024:

Canadians caught up in latest US Russiagate case

Canadians Lauren Chen and Lauren Southern are among the social media influencers alleged to have been paid by Russian agents to spread pro-Trump propaganda to interfere in the U.S. presidential election.

What we know about the two Canadian influencers accused of Russian propaganda | National Post | Stewart Lewis: 

September 6, 2024 - "The U.S. Justice Department unsealed an indictment against two Russian nationals on Wednesday, accusing them of disseminating pro-Kremlin propaganda through a 'pro-Trump supergroup'.... Details within the charges referred to Tenet Media, which was founded in 2023 by a Canadian influencer known as Lauren Chen and her husband, Liam Donavan. Last year they hired Chen’s long-time friend and occasional collaborator Lauren Southern, another Canadian influencer with a large social media following, the CBC says.

"Since the indictment was revealed, several Tenet Media collaborators have publicly stated they were not aware how the company was funded.... Southern and Chen haven’t spoken publicly since the indictment was announced. Neither has posted anything since the Justice Department’s accusations were made public.

"Criminal charges have not been brought against Chen, Donavan or Southern and they are not named in the indictment. But the allegations have damaged their reputations. Chen has been fired from another website, Glenn Beck’s The Blaze. Her YouTube channel, which had more than 572,000 subscribers, was terminated on Thursday. Her bio page on the website for Turning Points USA, a pro-Trump campus activist group, has been deleted....

"Born in Quebec and raised in Hong Kong, Chen gained prominence as a YouTuber using the name “Roaming Millennial”. She was a strong supporter of Trump in the 2016 election.... Chen appears to be referred to as Founder-1 in the indictment and to have begun working in the spring of 2021 for the parent company of RT — a Russian state-run news outlet. RT was forced to stop operating in Canada and the U.S. as part of government sanctions that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

"U.S. officials say in the indictment that while being paid by RT operatives, Founder-1 began recruiting conservative personalities with lucrative offers in 2023 for a new media outlet. Details in the indictment suggest Chen was allegedly billing RT partially through Roaming Millennial Inc., which was a registered company in the Montreal area, where her mother lived. Tenet Media was eventually registered in Tennessee as a subsidiary of Chen’s Canadian company....

"Southern grew up in British Columbia and became a right-wing luminary, known for videos featuring her confronting progressive activists.... 

[Southern was a candidate for the Libertarian Party of Canada in the 2015 federal election. Her candidacy was suspended by then-leader Tim Moen that July after multiple complaints about some of her videos, but she was reinstated a week later after meeting and talking with Moen. - gd] 

"Southern has also produced several videos for Tenet Media focusing on Canadian issues. One was titled 'Canada Is Becoming A COMMUNIST HELLHOLE'. It compares Canada to the U.S.S.R.. Another, called 'Mean Tweets = Life in PRISON in Canada?!' criticizes the proposed Online Harms Act."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/canadian-influencers-accused-of-russian-propaganda 

Canadian influencers tied to alleged Russian interference campaign | CTV News | September 7, 2024:

Biden-Harris admin pressured Facebook to censor

In a letter to the US House Judiciary Committee, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that the Biden-Harris administration pressured Facebook to censor posts about both COVID-19 and the infamous Hunter Biden laptop.

Biden-Harris administration pressured Facebook to censor COVID, Hunter Biden laptop content | Western Standard | Myke Thomas: 

27 August 27, 2024 - "In a letter sent to US House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jim Jordan on Monday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged the Biden-Harris administration pressured Facebook to censor COVID-19 information, as well as news about the infamous Hunter Biden laptop. The letter comes more than a year after Meta provided the committee with thousands of documents as part of its investigation into content moderation on online platforms, reports Fox News, adding Meta has also provided the committee with access to a dozen employees for transcribed interviews. 

"'There’s a lot of talk right now around how the U.S. government interacts with companies like Meta, and I want to be clear about our position,' Zuckerberg wrote. 'Our platforms are for everyone, we’re about promoting speech and helping people connect in a safe and secure way. As part of this, we regularly hear from governments around the world and others with various concerns around public discourse and public safety.' 

"He told Jordan that in 2021, 'senior officials' from the Biden administration and White House 'repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire.' Zuckerberg said Facebook did not agree with the censorship.... Zuckerberg wrote. [that] 'I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it'.... 

"Fox News reached out to the White House for comment, with a spokesperson responding, 'When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety. Our position has been clear and consistent: we believe tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent choices about the information they present.' 

"Zuckerberg also confirmed the FBI 'warned' the platform "about a potential Russian disinformation operation about the Biden family and Burisma in the lead up to the 2020 election," reports the Post Millennial, adding the FBI also laid out a hypothetical Russian "disinfo campaign" would include a fake story about a discovered Hunter Biden laptop in an attempt to discredit Biden's campaign. The New York Post broke the story, which is now known to be true.... Zuckerberg wrote the impetus for the platform to censor and suppress the New York Post's reporting on the laptop was a direct result of the FBI's warnings."

Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/international/biden-harris-administration-pressured-facebook-to-censor-covid-hunter-biden-laptop-content/57301

Zuckerberg admits Biden-Harris administration 'pressured' Facebook to censor Americans | Sky News Australia | August 27, 2024:

Telegram CEO arrested in France

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of social media app Telegram, has been arrested in France for not removing user content from the platform when ordered to by the authorities.  

The outrageous arrest of Telegram’s Pavel Durov | Spiked | Fraser Myers: 

26th August 26, 2024 - "In 2013, the Russian authorities searched the home and offices of social-media magnate Pavel Durov.... [T]he raid was widely believed to be in retaliation for his platform’s persistent refusal to censor critics of the government. VK, Durov’s Russian-language competitor to Facebook, had consistently rejected the Kremlin’s demands to block the accounts of Putin’s domestic opponents and to hand over data belonging to protesters in Ukraine. In 2014, he sold his stake in VK, resigned as CEO, and fled his home country. Durov, a self-described libertarian, says he was not prepared to do the state’s bidding. Since he left, VK is now more or less controlled by the Kremlin.

"More than a decade later and Durov is in trouble with the law again. His newer app, Telegram, is in the firing line this time. He was arrested and detained on Saturday and charged with 12 crimes, seemingly all in connection with Telegram’s failure to comply with the authorities’ requests to remove certain content. But Durov was not arrested in Russia this time. He was apprehended as his private jet touched down in France.

Pavel Durov in 2013. TechCrunch / Wikimedia Commons.

"The 12 charges include ‘complicity’ in alleged crimes as diverse as child exploitation, fraud, drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorism. As despicable as such crimes may be, it is unprecedented for the authorities in a Western liberal democracy to hold a social-media platform and its founder criminally liable for content shared by others.... The commonsense principle that social-media firms are not directly responsible for their users’ content had held firm until relatively recently in Europe. 

"Yet, in the past few years, Europe’s illiberal elites have been gripped by hysteria about the supposedly malign influence of major tech platforms.... [A]lmost every societal problem is now pinned on an excess of online freedom. This has prompted a series of laws, from the EU’s Digital Services Act to the UK’s Online Safety Act, which effectively treat platforms as publishers of user-generated content, threatening them with fines if they fail to remove posts that contravene their rules.

"Telegram has over 900 million users worldwide and is well known for its laissez-faire approach to content and its fierce protection of its users’ privacy. It hosts both private conversations and ‘channels’, which allow a single user to disseminate messages directly to large numbers of followers. But its terms of service do prohibit terrorist content, scams, illegal pornography and incitement to violence. Notably it has removed ISIS-linked channels and white-supremacist groups involved with the ‘January 6’ storming of the US Capitol.

"Durov, the sole owner, insists his platform is neutral and ‘not a player in geopolitics’. Nevertheless, Telegram is especially notorious for hosting pro-war Russian bloggers.... This has led to suspicions that the Kremlin has more control or influence over Telegram than Durov lets on. The Russian government’s call for his release over the weekend has only compounded these fears.... Yet, on the other hand, there is no evidence that Telegram has censored, say, critics of Putin. Notably, it is also highly popular in Ukraine. It remains one of the few platforms to allow Russians to access information about the war that isn’t filtered by the Kremlin. Telegram also proved essential for those organising pro-democracy protests against the CCP in Hong Kong in 2019. To characterise the app purely as a propaganda tool for authoritarians like the Russian government, as many observers in the West are keen to do, is to miss the bigger picture. Durov’s own past run-ins with the Kremlin also suggest he is sincere in his libertarian beliefs.

"Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, was quick to defend Durov in the wake of his arrest. Musk, himself persona non grata among the Western liberal establishment, thanks to X’s more liberal speech policies, claims there is a political vendetta against Telegram and Durov. Musk argues that Instagram, owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, ‘has a massive child-exploitation problem, but no arrest for Zuck, as he censors free speech and gives governments backdoor access to user data… He already caved into censorship pressure.’ In other words, while all platforms have unwittingly hosted illegal content, just as Telegram is alleged to have done, the European authorities are primarily interested in targeting those platforms that refuse to accede to their demands to censor political dissent.

"Certainly, some of those defending Durov’s arrest are not making any effort to dispel this impression. A piece in the Guardian has hailed it as a ‘smart move’ that could panic tech executives like Musk into censoring more content at governments’ behest. That ‘nagging fear [of arrest] is no bad thing’, it said. (Earlier this month, a former Twitter exec wrote another piece in the Guardian calling explicitly for Musk’s arrest.) It is hard not to suspect that allowing unfettered political speech is Telegram’s real crime in the eyes of the elites....

"The criminalisation of Pavel Durov sets a deeply troubling precedent. If social-media execs are to be held liable for posts on their platforms, then a ramping up of pre-emptive censorship seems inevitable. Europeans must stand up to this now, lest they lose their online freedoms for good."

Read more: https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/08/26/the-outrageous-arrest-of-telegrams-pavel-durov/

Peterson's appeal of retraining order dismissed

Ontario's Court of Appeals has dismissed psychologist Jordan Peterson's appeal of a lower court decision that the provincial regulatory body can subject him to mandatory social media re-education. 

Peterson warns Canada not a free country after appeal dismissed | Western Standard | Jen Hodgson:

January 17, 2024 - "Psychologist and best-selling author Jordan Peterson declared Canada is not a free country after losing his appeal of a mandatory re-education case in the Ontario Court of Appeal.... The court denied Jordan Peterson’s motion to have the College of Psychologists of Ontario’s mandatory re-education ruling overturned on Tuesday. A panel of three judges made the decision, with no reasons given.

"None of the complaints against Peterson, who was a professor at the University of Toronto until 2017, were filed by a former patient or student, but from those who took offence to comments he made online.... Based on allegedly offensive comments Peterson made on social media and Joe Rogan’s podcast, the college said he would have to undergo a mandatory social media retraining program for an undetermined amount of time, paid for out of his pocket and by a trainer appointed by them in order to maintain his licence. 

"The  Ontario Divisional Court said in August the college was allowed to uphold the decision. Peterson appealed, which led to the ruling announced Tuesday. Peterson’s lawyer Howard Levitt told the National Post this was the last chance for appeal — he lamented the loss of free speech in Canada and said he thinks the case will set a precedent “licensing regulatory bodies to be more aggressive.” 

“'Is there free speech in Canada?' Levitt said. 'To what extent are the limits on free speech in Canada, to free speech which is not criminal or not tortious, not a violation of any law? To what extent are regulated professionals and regulated trades impacted in terms of what they can say in the public forum? These are important issues and Canada has been castigated broadly for the decision of the divisional court,' the attorney said. 

"The 18-page court decision included an explanation and more details on the training than were previously given, including a set time frame. Peterson is required to begin the training within three months and it will last up to 12 months. 'Requiring coaching following apparently unheeded advice seems a reasonable next step, proportionately balancing statutory objectives against Charter rights which are minimally impaired, if they are impaired at all, by the (college’s decision to require coaching),' the document states. 

"Peterson’s comments in question include tweets made about Sports Illustrated's plus-size model campaign being 'not beautiful,' and about the surgeon that removed the breasts of transgender actor Elliot Page, formerly known as Ellen Page. Peterson, who has sounded the alarm on transgender surgeries in the past, said Page 'had her breasts removed by a criminal physician'....  Peterson was [also] accused of not taking climate change or COVID-19 mandates seriously and posting 'aggressive' comments about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and specifically, Trudeau's long-time friend and former principal secretary Gerald Butts, who was entrenched with Trudeau in the SNC Lavalin scandal in 2018. 

"When the mandatory training was issued, Peterson refused to participate, and asked the courts to review his case. He said his speech on public platforms was outside the purview of the college’s authority.... The Ontario Divisional Court ruled in August [that] though Peterson didn’t break any laws, he was outside the rules in place for the regulated profession of practicing psychologists.... [T]he court documents state ... 'The order is not disciplinary and does not prevent Dr. Peterson from expressing himself on controversial topics.'"

Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/news/peterson-warns-canada-not-a-free-country-after-appeal-dismissed/51713

Jordan Peterson Discusses His Court-Ordered Social Media Training | Theo Von Clips | August 30, 2023: 

Health Canada paid social media influencers more than $680,000

During the Covid pandemic, Health Canada paid out more than $680,000 to social media influencers on Twitter (now X) to ''build the department’s credibility'

Image courtesy Analytics Vidhya.

Trudeau gov’t paid Twitter influencers $682,000 | Western Standard | Christopher Oldcorn:

December 14, 2023 - "Records show the department of health has given over $680,000 to Twitter 'influencers' since 2021. According to Blacklock’s Reporter, tweeters received payment to show support for government programs without revealing that they were paid for their posts.... The figures were disclosed at the request of Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri (Peterborough-Kawartha, ON), who asked 'What are the details of all expenditures on social media influencers?' Payments over two years totalled $682,166. Talent fees paid to individual influencers were not detailed.

"The Inquiry said paid influencers used the Twitter handles AlanisDesilets, ArcticMakeup, BreCarpeRuns, CaleonTwins, CassandraBouchard, CharlotteB123, ChelazonLeroux, ChKairyn, ChristineKissickHome, DanielleIsAnxious, DashingDad_YYC, DoTheDaniel, EveMartel, FleurMaison, IAmSukhManGill, Indigenous_Baddie, ItsChrisRobins, JahJahBanks, JemmyEchd and JoselyneEffa. Other paid influencers were Life_With_Benjamin, MomRdy2Go, OhKairyn, PascaleDeblois, PlayingWithApparelMen, RafaelLeroy, Riddjyy, ShaneWhalley, ShoshanaRose, SidAfz, ThatWarriorPrincess, TheDadCode, TheDiyMommy, TheLoistGirlsGuide, TheTinaSingh, ThreeLittleSeedlings, TresDuchelle, TychonCarter, UrduMom, VahineLefebvre, VardaEtienne and YoutheCEO.

"The health department disclosed its Influencer Marketing Program in a March 24, 2021, notice to contractors without detailing the cost. Twitter stars were paid to 'build the department’s credibility' and told they must not 'tarnish Health Canada’s or the Government of Canada’s reputation'.... Cabinet defended the practice at the time. 'The Government of Canada and the scientific committees that advise it and Health Canada are providing information to Canadians to the best of their ability and in real-time,' said Senator Marc Gold (QC), Government Representative in the Senate. 

"Critics described it as a propaganda effort.  'Health Canada has hired social media influencers and minor celebrities to tout the great work it’s doing on Canada’s response to the pandemic,' then-Senator Linda Frum (ON) said at the time. 'These government-paid influencers are not required to reveal they are government-paid influencers because that, of course, would be very embarrassing,' said Senator Frum, who described the campaign as a tax-funded attempt to 'spread disinformation about Health Canada’s response to the pandemic.'"

Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/news/trudeau-govt-paid-twitter-influencers-682000/51043

Chinese gov't allegedly using bots to defame MPs

Global Affairs Canada has accused the Chinese government of using online bot accounts on social media  to defame and discredit Canadian Members of Parliament. 

China allegedly continues online campaign to bully MPs | Western Standard | Christopher Oldcorn:

October 24 2023 - "The department of [Global] Affairs announced on Monday that China is likely behind another online defamation campaign aimed at MPs. This is the second attack in four months. According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the department ... stated that China swamped the social media accounts of MPs with defamatory comments. 

"'It likely seeks to discredit and denigrate the targeted MPs through seemingly organic posts alleging impropriety by posting waves of social media posts and videos that call into question the political and ethical standards of the MPs,' the department said in a statement. 'It likely seeks to silence criticism of the Chinese Communist Party by getting MPs to distance themselves from the critic and discouraging wider online communities from engaging with them'.... Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre were among those targeted.

"Analysts said that beginning in early August and continuing through Labour Day, Chinese agents flooded MPs’ Facebook and Twitter accounts with 'thousands of comments' alleging criminal or unethical conduct. 

"'The same bot networks involved in this campaign were engaged in the spreading of disinformation claiming the Hawaiian wildfires were caused by a secret U.S. military weather weapon,' wrote analysts. 'The bot network is part of the well-known spamouflage network,' said the department. 'Spamouflage has been publicly reported by technology companies and threat intelligence experts who have connected the activity to the People’s Republic of China.'

"The slander campaign was intended to 'discourage and make it difficult for MPs to carry out their duties and may dissuade MPs and diaspora communities in Canada from speaking out,' it said. The department did not elaborate.

"On August 9, federal researchers revealed another slander campaign on the Chinese-language WeChat platform directed at Conservative MP Michael Chong (Wellington-Halton Hills, ON). Chong had been consistently criticized after successfully putting forward a motion in the House of Commons condemning China for its human rights abuses. 'Between May 4 and 13, a coordinated network of WeChat news accounts featured, shared and amplified a large volume false or misleading narratives about Mr. Chong,' said the department of Foreign Affairs. 'Most of the activity was targeted at spreading false narratives about his identity including commentary and claims about his background, political stances and family heritage.'

"Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu (Steveston-Richmond East, BC) attributed his defeat in the 2021 general election to a negative social media campaign against him. Chiu lost his riding by 3,477 votes to Liberal MP Parm Bains after facing continuous accusations that he was a Chinese traitor. 'There was a coordinated attack against me and my Party,' Chiu testified at the House Affairs committee on May 10."

Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/news/chinas-allegedly-continues-online-campaign-to-bully-mps/49660

Read Global Affairs Canada statement here
https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2023/10/rapid-response-mechanism-canada-detects-spamouflage-campaign-targeting-members-of-parliament.html
Canada uncovers alleged Chinese 'spamouflage' | WION | October 24, 2023: 

Locked up for tweets in 2015, NL man still seeking a hearing

Andrew Abbass, who was wrongfully detained by the Newfoundland police in 2015 due to his social media posts, and confined to a psychiatric unit against his will, is still seeking a public hearing eight years later.  

He was detained by police after sending a tweet. 8 years later, he's fighting for a public hearing | CBC News | Ariana Kelland:

October 16 -"A man who was illegally detained by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and housed for six days at a psychiatric unit against his will in 2015 is determined to bring his case to a public hearing. But the police officers at the centre of the complaints have gone to court to stop that from happening.

"Andrew Abbass filed public complaints against the now-retired Staff Sgt. Tim Buckle and Const. Joe Smyth in 2017, when new information surfaced during an unrelated police shooting inquiry. After numerous years, reports and appeals, the acting commissioner with the RNC police complaints commission has sent the matter to a public hearing. However, even that is in limbo, as both officers have applied to the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador for judicial review.

"'At the end of the day, no one has been found to be fully accountable in any meaningful way,' said Abbass, 42, in a recent interview at his home in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. It's been eight years since the alleged misconduct happened. Both Abbass and an expert in police discipline say the process against the two officers has dragged on far too long and speaks to the need for deep reform on police complaints procedures....

"Abbass first came to the RNC's attention in Corner Brook in 2014, when he attempted to charge then prime minister Stephen Harper and his foreign affairs minister for 'inciting genocide by the state of Israel against the Palestinian people.' Abbass had applied to the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador to hear his argument. The federal government issued a response, but a judge ultimately declined to hear the case in 2017....

"Then, on April 5, 2015 — Easter Sunday —  Smyth, a member of the premier's security detail, shot and killed Don Dunphy in his home in Mitchell's Brook, about 45 minutes outside St. John's. Dunphy was an injured worker who often strongly criticized the province's workers' compensation system online. Smyth, investigating a tweet sent by Dunphy that was interpreted as a threat, said Dunphy pointed a firearm at him. Abbass saw the two incidents as interconnected examples of government overreach, and made his feelings known on social media the following day.... 

"Abbass said he heard an interview with the premier on CBC Radio, in which he said there would be a cracking down of social media monitoring in the wake of Dunphy's shooting. He saw that as Davis doubling down, and considered it an affront to free speech. Abbass tweeted: 'How about this, premier of N.L.: I'm going to bring down Confederation and have politicians executed. Ready to have me shot, coward?' The tweet, he admits, was meant to antagonize.... 'I figured they would arrest me.'

"Four RNC officers came to Abbass's home in Corner Brook where he was living with his pregnant girlfriend and detained him under the Mental Health Care and Treatment Act. Despite spending the next six days in the psychiatric ward of the Western Memorial Regional Hospital in Corner Brook, Abbass was never charged with a crime. Nor was he certified as suffering from any psychiatric condition.... 

"In the wake of Abbass's arrest, the RCMP got a warrant to search his home over a tweet they viewed as potentially threatening against Stephen Harper. The tweet was sent before the Dunphy shooting, but the Mounties moved in only after he was detained by the RNC. He was charged with uttering threats but it was dropped soon after, at his first court appearance. However, once inside his home, they discovered marijuana and charged Abbass and his pregnant partner with cultivation. Abbass said he used it for medical reasons but didn't have a licence at the time. A judge gave him an absolute discharge."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/andrew-abbass-rnc-complaints-1.6967702

 What happened to Andrew Abbass? An 8-year police complaints odyssey, explained | CBC NL - Newfoundland and Labrador | October 19, 2023:

Ontario regulator drops case against sceptic MD

Ontario's College of Physicians and Surgeons has ended its quest to silence anti-lockdown pediatrician Kulvinder Kaur Gill.

Ontario regulatory body drops inquest into COVID-critical doctor | National Post | Michael Higgins: 

Oct 4, 2023 - "If the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) was to be believed, the tweets of Dr. Kulvinder Kaur Gill were ... unprofessional, irresponsible, critical of official messaging and potentially destructive to public health.... The college was unhappy that Gill believed government and public health responses to COVID were based more on politics than science. So it comes as a surprise that the college, which had been hellbent on bringing Gill to heel, has decided to end a planned disciplinary hearing against her. 

"Lisa Bildy, Gill’s lawyer, said in an email that the CPSO seemed to concede it had a bad case. 'It appears they finally recognized that Dr. Gill’s concerns about the harms of lockdowns and vaccine mandates were well-supported and could not reasonably be said to constitute "misinformation",' Bildy said.

"Gill’s case is another example of a regulatory body trying to exert control over the tweets, speech and language of a professional. The most high-profile occurrence is that of psychologist Jordan Peterson, who is fighting an order from the College of Psychologists of Ontario to undergo social media training, thereby regulating what he says on social media.

"'Regulatory bodies have become far too comfortable with exerting control over the expression and values of their members,' said Bildy. 'The (CPSO) is legislatively tasked with keeping patients safe from incompetent and unethical doctors and regulating the profession in the public interest. It is not there to give disgruntled people on Twitter a tool for "cancelling" people with whom they do not agree, nor to take up the mantle of enforcer for politicians who don’t want their policies challenged.'

"In 2020, Gill, a pediatrician with immunology training practising in the Greater Toronto Area, found herself the subject of complaints — from members of the public, not patients — to the CPSO. The Democracy Fund, a civil liberties organization assisting Gill, described her in 2022 as the subject of a 'malicious online campaign” that encouraged the public to file complaints about her. Five complaints were dismissed by a committee of the CPSO, but three resulted in 'cautions' being issued in 2021 against the doctor....

"Gill found herself in the crosshairs of the college again in 2022. This time, she was accused of advocating against masks and COVID vaccines, and for undermining trust in public health. In February 2023, the college pointed to the 'totality of Dr. Gill’s communications' as evidence that, 'Government and other institutions are engaging in tyranny, lying to the public and acting in unconstitutional and unscientific manner'.... A 15-day disciplinary hearing was scheduled for early 2024. However, in September, the CPSO told Gill’s lawyer that it was not proceeding with the hearing. The CPSO declined to comment on the case, citing confidentiality.

"Gill’s real crime, Bildy said, was refusing to go along with the 'groupthink.' She pointed out that the CPSO’s statement to the profession, back when Gill was being investigated, told doctors their comments could lead to public harm if they did not 'align with information coming from public health or government.'  'This was an astonishing edict,' Bildy told me. 'Public health is fundamentally a political office and should not be beyond reproach. Physicians are bound by an ethical and moral duty to do no harm, and it is sometimes essential and in the public interest to question public health decisions and government policies. Consensus can be dangerous, particularly when groupthink coalesces around the wrong decision....

"'If we don’t push back, an enforced consensus on the social and scientific issues of our time will steamroll over us. If that happens, especially on a global, technocratic scale, the Enlightenment era with its ideals of rationalism, democracy, individualism, the scientific method, fundamental freedoms and the like — a relative blip on the historical time scale — may be gone forever.'”

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/ontario-regulator-walks-back-inquisition-against-covid-critical-doctor

“the basic concept of public health is to look at all harms” Dr Kulvinder Kaur Gill | Sceptic Nurse | February 21, 2021: 

Liberal staffer condones Hamas violence

While Canada's Liberal government, including  cabinet minister Gary Anandasangaree, has condemned recent Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, Anandasangaree's senior legal staffer has been sharing social media posts defending the "revolutionary violence" and cheering "Go Palestine". 

Senior Liberal staffer shares post defending Palestinian “revolutionary violence” | True North | Elie Cantin-Nantel:

October 8, 2023 - "A senior advisor to a Liberal cabinet minister shared an Instagram post condoning Palestinian 'revolutionary violence' and using a hashtag calling for the destruction of Israel. Brandon Montour, who is listed as a senior legal affairs advisor to Liberal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree on the federal government’s employee directory, also shared a post supporting Palestinian liberation through 'whatever means necessary.' The sharing of the posts came amid unprecedented Hamas attacks on Israel that have so far killed more than 600 Israeli soldiers and civilians and kidnapped 100 hostages, including children and seniors – with one senior Israeli official calling it 'our 9/11.'  

Screenshots courtesy True North.

"Terrorists fired thousands of rockets and dozens of Palestinian gunmen infiltrated Israeli territory on Saturday.  The same day, Montour shared an Instagram post saying 'revolutionary violence is not terrorism. It’s a fight for liberation.' The post was shared from a 'Marxist-Leninist, Proletarian feminist' account. The post contained three other images, including one of Hamas terrorists capturing Israeli soldiers and one that read 'resistance doesn’t happen only by violence, but violence is the mainstream.' The post had the caption 'Go Palestine' and the hashtags #destroyisrael, #destroyimperialism, #destroycolonialism, #freepalestine and #revolution.

"Montour also shared a post from a Palestinian liberation group that called for people to 'support Palestinian Resistance from Al-Quds [Jerusalem] to Gaza.' Behind the text is an image of rockets being launched. 'Supporting Palestinian liberation is supporting whatever means necessary it takes to get there,' the post said. 'Freedom has only ever been achieved through resistance. After over 75 years of ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide, how could anyone expect anything else from Palestinians but resistance?'...

"Montour did not respond to several requests for comment by True North. However, shortly after True North reached out to him, his LinkedIn page was deleted.

"The views expressed in the posts shared by Montour are contrary to the position taken by Canada’s Liberal government, which has denounced Hamas’ attacks on Israel as terrorism. Anandasangaree, as well as Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, issued statements condemning Hamas and showing solidarity with Israel following the attacks....

"Anandasangaree’s office did not respond to a request for comment."

Read more: https://tnc.news/2023/10/08/liberal-staffer-palestinian-violence/

Podcaster demonetized over anonymous charges

YouTube Has Demonetized Russell Brand Over Anonymous #MeToo Allegations | Reason | Robby Soave:

September 19, 2023 - "Russell Brand is a comedian, actor, and podcaster with a considerable following on social media platforms, including Rumble and YouTube. Once firmly on the political left, his contrarian views on COVID-19 and other subjects have earned him a substantial following among independents and conservatives, in the vein of figures like Joe Rogan and Glenn Greenwald.

"Last week, the London Sunday Times accused Brand of sexually assaulting multiple women during the time period from 2006 and 2013.... Brand has denied the allegations, but the consequences have been swift. His talent agency dropped him the same day the story was published, and now YouTube has demonetized his channel, meaning that he can't make money from advertisements.

"The reporting in The Sunday Times is very detailed, and the story does offer some corroborating details.... Brand has admitted in the past to struggling with drug abuse and sex addiction and engaging in lewd behavior—which doesn't mean he's guilty of rape but does put the accusations in context.

"It's fair, of course, to scrutinize the motivations of the accusers as well: The Sunday Times notes that the women wanted to talk to reporters because of 'Brand's newfound prominence as an online wellness influencer, with millions of followers on YouTube and other sites.' Brand's supporters may see this admission as evidence that he is being targeted specifically because of his recently established animosity toward mainstream media and institutions.

"Regardless of how one feels about this situation, YouTube's actions should raise eyebrows. The platform has not punished Brand for something he said—for some piece of video content he created. YouTube is punishing Brand for conduct that took place entirely off the platform and does not involve speech at all.

"As a private company, YouTube has the right, of course, to platform and deplatform anyone it wishes. It is not obligated to obey the First Amendment, extend due process to content creators, or enforce internally consistent rules. The company is free to do whatever it wants — and users are free to complain. And this seems like something worth complaining about. 

"YouTube's guidelines do require creators to remain 'responsible' both on and off the platform, and the company specifically prohibits 'abuse or violence, demonstrating cruelty, or participating in fraudulent or deceptive behavior that leads to real-world harm.' But let's keep in mind that Brand has not been convicted of any crime. His accusers remain anonymous. Will any prominent figure accused of sexual misconduct anonymously face similar sanction, prior to any criminal action taking place?

"Due process, the presumption of innocence, the burden of the proof — these things are not legally required in a situation like this, but wholly jettisoning them is morally, practically, and philosophically unsound. It's unwise for YouTube to put itself in the position of litigating extremely contentious off-site personal behavior. This sets a very dangerous, quasi-dystopian precedent."

Read more: https://reason.com/2023/09/19/russell-brand-youtube-demonetized-rape-accusations/

Russell Brand DEPLATFORMED on Streaming; Ad Revenue SUSPENDED In Stunning Censorship Move: Rising | The Hill | September 20, 2023:

Appeals court upholds Missouri v. Biden injunction

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a limited injunction against the federal government censoring social media. 

The Government Censored Me and Other Scientists. We Fought Back—and Won | The Free Press | Jay Bhattacharya:

September 11, 2023 - "When I was 19, I became an American citizen. It was one of the happiest days of my young life. The immigration officer gave me a civics test, including a question about the First Amendment. It was an easy test because I knew it in my heart. The American civic religion has the right to free speech as the core of its liturgy.... My parents had taught me that people here could criticize the government, even over matters of life and death, without worry that the government would censor or suppress us. But over the past three years, I have been robbed of that conviction. American government officials, working in concert with big tech companies, have attacked and suppressed my speech and that of my colleagues for criticizing official pandemic policies—criticism that has been proven prescient. 

"On Friday, at long last, the Fifth Circuit Court ruled that ... that the Biden administration did indeed strong-arm social media companies into doing its bidding. The court found that the Biden White House, the CDC, the U.S. Surgeon General’s office, and the FBI 'engaged in a years-long pressure campaign [on social media outlets] designed to ensure that the censorship aligned with the government’s preferred viewpoints'.... According to the judges, 'the officials’ campaign succeeded. The platforms, in capitulation to state-sponsored pressure, changed their moderation policies'....

"The trouble began on October 4, 2020, when my colleagues and I — Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a professor of medicine at Harvard University, and Dr. Sunetra Gupta, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford — published the Great Barrington Declaration. The Declaration called for an end to economic lockdowns, school shutdowns, and similar restrictive policies on the grounds that they disproportionately harm the young and economically disadvantaged while conferring limited benefits to society as a whole. The Declaration endorsed a “focused protection” approach that called for strong measures to protect high-risk populations while allowing lower-risk individuals to return to normal life with reasonable precautions. Tens of thousands of doctors and public health scientists signed our statement....

"Four days after the Declaration’s publication, then-director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, emailed Fauci to organize a 'devastating takedown' of it. Almost immediately, social media companies such as Google/YouTube, Reddit, and Facebook censored mentions of the Declaration.... [I]n 2021 Twitter blacklisted me for posting a link to the Great Barrington Declaration. YouTube censored a video of a public policy roundtable of me with Florida governor Ron DeSantis.... I am not a political person; I am not registered with either party.... Yet at the height of the pandemic, I found myself smeared for my supposed political views, and my views about Covid policy and epidemiology were removed from the public square on all manner of social networks....

"In August 2022, my colleagues and I finally had a chance to fight back. The Missouri and Louisiana attorneys general asked me to join as a plaintiff in their case, represented by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, against the Biden administration. The aim of the suit was to end the government's role in this censorship—and restore the free speech rights of all Americans in the digital town square.... The case revealed that a dozen federal agencies — including the CDC, the Office of the Surgeon General, and the Biden White House — pressured social media companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter to censor and suppress even true speech contradicting federal pandemic priorities. For instance, in 2021, the White House threatened social media companies with damaging regulatory action unless it censored scientists who shared the demonstrable fact that the Covid vaccines do not prevent people from getting Covid.... 

"On Independence Day this year, federal Judge Terry Doughty issued a preliminary injunction in the case, ordering the federal government to immediately stop coercing social media companies to censor protected free speech.... The government appealed, convinced it should have the power to censor scientific speech. An administrative stay followed and lasted much of the summer. But on Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously restored a modified version of the preliminary injunction, telling the government to stop using social media companies to do its censorship dirty work: 

Defendants, and their employees and agents, shall take no actions, formal or informal, directly or indirectly, to coerce or significantly encourage social-media companies to remove, delete, suppress, or reduce, including through altering their algorithms, posted social-media content containing protected free speech. That includes, but is not limited to, compelling the platforms to act, such as by intimating that some form of punishment will follow a failure to comply with any request, or supervising, directing, or otherwise meaningfully controlling the social media companies’ decision-making processes....

"The decision isn’t perfect. Some entities at the heart of the government’s censorship enterprise can still organize to suppress speech..... But ... the federal government can no longer threaten social media companies with destruction if they don’t censor on behalf of the government. The Biden administration, which has proven itself to be an enemy of free speech, will surely appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. But I am hopeful that we will win there, just as we have at every venue in this litigation. I am grateful for the resilience of the U.S. Constitution, which has withstood this challenge."

Read more: https://www.thefp.com/p/i-fought-government-censorship-and-won

Was Biden's social media meddling illegal? | ReasonTV | August 18, 2023: 

US appeals court stays social media injunction

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a lower court's injunction barring federal government agencies from ordering social media companies to suppress protected free speech.

Federal Officials Can Keep Pressing Tech Platforms To Remove Content for Now, Court Says | Reason | Elizabeth Nolan Brown:

July 17, 2023 - "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit put on temporary hold an order blocking federal officials from pressuring social media companies to suppress certain accounts, posts, or types of information ... issued Friday. It deferred ruling on the Biden administration's motion for a stay pending appeal 'to the oral argument merits panel which receives this case,' which means those judges will decide whether to lift the current administrative stay or keep things on pause [after] the full appeals process plays out. The court also expedited the case to the next available oral argument slot, meaning an appeals court panel will hold a full hearing on the case as soon as possible....

"First Amendment lawyer Robert Corn-Revere recently wrote for Reason about this case (Missouri v. Biden), suggesting that 'the political noise surrounding the case is distracting attention from the important First Amendment principles at stake.' Corn-Revere cites Judge Richard Posner in Backpage.com, LLC v. Dart: A public official who 'threatens to employ coercive state power to stifle protected speech violates a plaintiff's First Amendment rights, regardless of whether the threatened punishment comes in the form of the use (or, misuse) of the defendant's direct regulatory or decisionmaking authority…or in some less-direct form.' (In that case, an Illinois sheriff pressured credit card companies to stop doing business with Backpage.)

"A ruling that federal authorities must limit flagging online speech to encourage its suppression or removal by tech platforms should be viewed by free speech defenders as an unambiguously good thing. But the lower court's decision in Missouri v. Biden — the decision now on temporary hold — has attracted a lot of criticism in some corners that should know better. For instance, The Washington Post called the initial order 'a victory for conservatives' and warned that it 'could have a major chilling effect on contacts between tech companies…and a broad swath of federal agencies' — as if that's a bad thing!... 

"In the lower court's ruling, U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty banned all Department of Justice and FBI employees plus many federal public health officials from 'meeting with social-media companies for the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content,' and 'specifically flagging content or posts on social-media platforms and/or forwarding such to social-media companies urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner for removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech'....

"The case was brought by the Republican attorneys general (A.G.s) of Louisiana and Missouri, as part of a beef with the Biden administration.... 'State A.G.s are unlikely defenders of the First Amendment given the members of that fraternity who make their political bones by mounting anti-speech crusades,' notes Corn-Revere. And on the same day Missouri v. Biden came down, [Missouri A.G. Andrew] Bailey was one of seven state A.G.s who sent a threatening letter to Target warning that the sale of LGBTQ-themed merchandise as part of a 'Pride' campaign might violate state obscenity laws.'

So, Bailey is not exactly a stalwart and unwavering defender of First Amendment principles. And Doughty's opinion 'credulously accepts plaintiffs' claims that almost all of the contacts with government officials (and some civilians) were coercive, and it uncritically accepts assertions that "only conservative viewpoints were allegedly suppressed,"' notes Corn-Revere. Doughty also makes a number of other puzzling assertions in his (now on-hold) 155-page ruling.... But it doesn't mean that Doughty's decision is totally without merits, either.

"'The district court's ruling in Missouri v. Biden rightly recognizes the serious threat government pressure tactics pose to free speech online,' as the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression put it. This sort of backhanded pressure on social media has come to be known as 'jawboning.' Robby Soave took a deep look at the issue for Reason's March 2023 cover story [see video].

"Perhaps the 5th Circuit's temporary hold on the order is 'the right call given the scope of the order and the many questions it raises," suggests Corn-Revere. But 'while the court of appeals should clarify and narrow the terms of the injunction, reversing it would be a mistake. It doesn't require an active imagination to predict how far a future administration (of either party) might venture if the courts greenlighted this level of governmental meddling in private moderation decisions.'"

Read more: https://reason.com/2023/07/17/federal-officials-can-keep-pressing-tech-platforms-to-remove-content-for-now-court-says/?itm_source=parsely-api

Emails show CDC policed COVID speech on Facebook | Reason TV | January 19, 2023:

Biden appeals social media collusion injunction

The Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) is appealing the federal court injunction barring them and other US. government agencies from colluding with social media to suppress protected free speech.

Biden DOJ to appeal federal ruling on Big Tech collusion | New York Post | Victor Nava:

July 5, 2023 - "The Justice Department will appeal a federal court ruling that blocked Biden administration officials from contacting social media companies because of collusion concerns, court documents show. US District Court Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump appointee, ruled Tuesday that the White House likely violated the First Amendment by flagging content for Big Tech companies to scrub during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"'Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 3(a), all Defendants hereby appeal, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the Court’s July 4, 2023 Preliminary Injunction Order,' read a notice of appeal filed Wednesday by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton and Federal Programs Branch Special Counsel Joshua Gardner. 

"Doughty concluded that the plaintiffs, led by the states of Missouri and Louisiana, were likely to succeed in their lawsuit against the federal government and issued a preliminary injunction limiting dozens of Biden administration officials from attempting to coordinate with social media giants to remove content.

"White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday that the administration 'certainly disagree with this decision'....' 

Our view remains that social media platforms have a critical responsibility to take action or to take account of the effects of their platforms are having to the American people but make independent choices about the information they present.  They are a private, as you know, entity, and it is their responsibility to — you know, to act accordingly. And so, we’re going to continue to be responsible in that way”

Read more: https://nypost.com/2023/07/05/biden-doj-to-appeal-big-tech-collusion-ruling/

Watch: CNN, MSNBC FREAK OUT Over Biden Admin’s LOSS of Social Media Censorship Powers | The Hill | July 5, 2023:

US agencies enjoined from inducing social media to suppress free speech

A U.S. District Judge has issued an injunction against multiple federal government agencies talking to social media about 'encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.'.

Judge’s order limits government contact with social media operators, raises disinformation questions | AP News | Kevin McGill, Matt O'Brien, & Ali Swenson:

July 5, 2023 - "U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, a conservative nominated to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump, chose Independence Day to issue an injunction blocking multiple government agencies and administration officials. In his words, they are forbidden to meet with or contact social media companies for the purpose of 'encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.'

"The order also prohibits the agencies and officials from pressuring social media companies 'in any manner' to try to suppress posts, raising questions about what officials could even say in public forums. The Justice Department file[d] a notice of appeal and said it would also seek to try to stay the court’s order.... 

"The lawsuit alleges that government officials used the possibility of favorable or unfavorable regulatory action to coerce social media platforms to squelch what the administration considered misinformation on a variety of topics, including COVID-19 vaccines, President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, and election integrity.

"The injunction — and Doughty’s accompanying reasons saying the administration 'seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian "Ministry of Truth"' — were hailed by conservatives as a victory for free speech and a blow to censorship. Legal experts, however, expressed surprise at the breadth of the order, and questioned whether it puts too many limits on a presidential administration.... Administration attorneys, in past court filings, have called the lawsuit an attempt to gag the free speech rights of administration officials themselves. 

"Justin Levitt, a law professor and constitutional law expert who is a former policy adviser to the Biden administration, said the order is unclear as to whether an official could even speak publicly to criticize misinformation on a social media platform. Elizabeth Murrill, an assistant Louisiana attorney general, said Wednesday that the order doesn’t infringe on such public criticism, as long as the official doesn’t threaten government action against the platform.

"Jennifer Grygiel, a communications professor and social media expert at Syracuse University, said Americans should resist the urge to dismiss the case as politically motivated and remain vigilant about the risks of federal encroachment on social media platforms. 'I’m more concerned that we’re lacking critique in the government’s intervention in these spaces,' Grygiel said. 'We need, as a public, to be very critical of any attempts by a government, a federal actor, to censor speech through a corporate entity.'"

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/social-media-protected-speech-lawsuit-injunction-d8070ef43b3b89e8e76b4569c77446d9

Injunction blocks Biden administration from working with social media firms about 'protected speech' | 6abc Philadelphia | July 5, 2023:

Google to block Canadian news due to Bill C-18

Google becomes the second large online tech giant to announce that it will no longer promote Canadian news sources on its platforms, following passage of the Online News Act (Bill C-18).    

Google to remove news links in Canada in response to online news law | CBC News | John Paul Tasker:

June 29, 2023 - "Google said Thursday it will remove Canadian news content from its search, news and discover products after a new law meant to compensate media outlets comes into force.... The decision comes after the government's contentious C-18 legislation passed Parliament last week. 

"The bill has been criticized by tech giants like Meta and Google who say it's unfair to impose what amounts to a tax on links. Some smaller media outlets and experts have blasted the regime because they claim the bulk of the financial benefits will accrue to a handful of a large media players. 

"'We're disappointed it has come to this. We don't take this decision or its impacts lightly and believe it's important to be transparent with Canadian publishers and our users as early as possible,' said Kent Walker, the president of global affairs at Google and Alphabet. 'The unprecedented decision to put a price on links (a so-called "link tax") creates uncertainty for our products and exposes us to uncapped financial liability simply for facilitating Canadians' access to news from Canadian publishers.'

"The government and larger media outlets, including the newspaper lobby group and broadcasters like the CBC and CTV, have said social media companies should compensate news outlets for the use of their content.

"Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez suggested Thursday he has no intention of backing down.... 'Big tech would rather spend money to change their platforms to block Canadians from accessing good quality and local news instead of paying their fair share to news organizations,' Rodriguez said in a statement....

"Rodriguez added in an interview with CBC News that he was surprised by Google's statement because the government's talks with the company are ongoing. 'We're still having conversations with Google as recent at this morning,' he said. 'Google knows very well that the clarity they need is coming soon through regulation.'

"Just yesterday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government was confident Google would come around on the legislation."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/google-canada-online-news-1.6892879

Google to block access to Canadian news | CBC News | June 29, 2023: