Latest Twitter files tackle ‘great Covid-19 lie machine’ flagging true content as ‘misinformation’

The latest installment of the Twitter Files examined Stanford University’s Virality Project intended to combat “misinformation”, but in reality targeted COVID content that challenged establishment narratives.

According to its website, the goal of Project Virality, which launched in May 2020, was to “detect, analyze and respond to incidents of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation in online ecosystems, and ultimately mitigate the impact stories that would otherwise undermine public confidence in the safety of these processes in the United States.”

On Friday, freelance journalist Matt Taibbi showed that the project didn’t quite live up to its mission statement.

Taibbi began the Twitter Files by attacking what he called “The Great Covid-19 Lie Machine” by quoting his weekly briefings, one from June 2021 saying that the spring 2020 emails made public by Dr Anthony Fauci on gaining function research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology “has been used to exacerbate distrust of Dr. Fauci and of American public health institutions” and “will foster increased distrust of the expert advice of Fauci”.

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Stanford University’s virality project was the subject of the latest episode of the Twitter Files (Screenshot/Virality Project)

Another briefing appeared to scorn the lab leak theory and sounded the alarm over ‘disturbing jokes’ critics had made about the Biden administration’s proposed door-to-door outreach efforts to boost vaccinations and any discussion of natural immunity.

“All have been characterized as ‘potential breaches’ or disinformation ‘events’ by the Virality Project, a broad cross-platform effort to monitor billions [sic] of social media posts by Stanford University, federal agencies, and a slew of (often state-funded) NGOs,” Taibbi reported.

As Taibbi noted, the Virality Project emails were previously mentioned in Twitter files, which panicked that “genuine content” about various side effects of COVID vaccines “could foster vaccine hesitancy.” But Taibbi now reports that in 2021 the project “worked with the government to launch an industry-wide monitoring plan for Covid-related content” across Twitter, Google and YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Medium, TikTok and Pinterest.

“This story is important for two reasons. First, as an Orwellian proof of concept, the Virality Project was a resounding success. secret and unified to control political messages,” Taibbi wrote. “Second, it has accelerated the evolution of digital censorship, moving it from judging truth/falsehood to a new, scarier, overtly narrative-driven model. politics at the expense of facts.

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Taibbi reported that Stanford University brought Twitter into the Virality Project in February 2021, just days after President Biden’s inauguration, first tackling “vaccine-related misinformation.”

He cited an email from the Virality Project tackling the “vaccine passport narrative” and how the concerns of critics at the time “led to a larger anti-vaccination narrative about the loss of rights and freedoms”, all falling under the category of the “disinformation” project. .”

“VP has regularly presented real testimonials about side effects ranging from misinformation, from ‘true stories’ of blood clots from AstraZeneca vaccines to a New York Times story about vaccinees who contracted the blood disorder thrombocytopenia,” said Taibbi writes.

Journalist Matt Taibbi called the virality project “the great Covid-19 lie machine”. (Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage)

Twitter quickly synchronized with the virality project. An email from Twitter in March 2021 showed that it would “continue to monitor…the misuse of official reporting tools and statistical data” and “campaigns against vaccine passports, raising fears about mandatory vaccinations” .

The Virality Project objected to Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc.’s stance of “asking questions” about the safety of COVID vaccines, saying it is a “common tactic used by broadcasters misinformation” as well as the Global Freedom Rally protest that opposed COVID restrictions, classifying it as a “disinformation event.”

He also flagged “known repeat offenders” like longtime vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., suggesting his content is “almost always reportable.”

In a June 2021, the Virality Project said it wanted to “focus” on the “increasingly popular narrative about natural immunity.” Two months prior, the project claimed that breakthrough COVID infections of those who had been vaccinated were “extremely rare events”, which it said does not mean “vaccines are ineffective”.

Months later, the project acknowledged that “breakthrough cases are happening.”

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Twitter files suggest the virality project may have encouraged Biden’s DHS to establish the now-defunct Disinformation Governance Council.

On April 26, 2022, the project released a report calling for the installation of a “Disinformation and Disinformation Center of Excellence” at DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). to “establish a rumor control mechanism to deal with nationally biased narratives”. The next day, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas revealed that a disinformation committee had been created and would be led by now-famous Mary Poppins impersonator Nina Jankowicz.

The virality project appears to have encouraged Biden’s DHS to create the now-defunct Disinformation Governance Council, headed by Nina Jankowicz. Twitter account (@wiczipedia)

“Even in his final report, VP claimed it was misinformation to suggest that the vaccine does not prevent transmission, or that governments are considering introducing vaccine passports. Both things turned out to be true,” Taibbi wrote. “The virality project was specifically not based on ‘statements of fact,’ but on public submission to authority, acceptance of narrative, and statements by figures like Anthony Fauci. The central concept/animator of the project was: ‘You can’t handle the truth.’”

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Among the government agencies the virality project has reportedly collaborated with are the Office of the Surgeon General, the CDC, DHS’s CISA, and the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which was also previously scanned in the Twitter files.

“To recap: America’s information mission has gone from fighting terrorism overseas, to stopping ‘foreign interference’ from reaching domestic audiences, to 80% domestic content. , which is largely true,” Taibbi added.

Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to joseph.wulfsohn@fox.com and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.

Not all news on the site expresses the point of view of the site, but we transmit this news automatically and translate it through programmatic technology on the site and not from a human editor.

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