U.S. Surgeon General claims Big Tech has role to play in censorship to ensure 'accurate' information

According to Murthy, Big Tech companies and their social media platforms have an 'important role to play' because they are 'the predominant places where we’re seeing misinformation spread.'

U.S. Surgeon General claims Big Tech has role to play in censorship to ensure 'accurate' information
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
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U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy claims that Big Tech companies have a role to play in censoring misinformation, in a duty to ensure that “accurate” information is presented to the public.

Murthy, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, was specifically asked what he thought of Joe Rogan’s popular podcast and the allegations that the host was propagating misinformation about COVID-19.

It’s worth noting that the “Joe Rogan Experience” is not a news publication, but a podcast run by an individual who simply has the audacity to speak his mind and have a conversation with others.

MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski asked, “What do you think are the best ways to push back on misinformation about COVID that continues to be aggressively pushed, whether it be Joe Rogan’s podcast or all over Facebook?”

“We can have the best science available, we can have the best public health expertise available. It won’t help people if they don’t have access to accurate information,” Murthy replied, adding, “People have the right to make their own decisions, but they also have the right to have accurate information to make that decision with.”

According to Murthy, Big Tech companies and their social media platforms have an “important role to play” because they are “the predominant places where we’re seeing misinformation spread.”

“This is not just about what the government can do,” he stressed, “this is about companies and individuals recognizing that the only way we get past misinformation is if we are careful about what we say and use the power that we have to limit the spread of misinformation.”

Instead of trying to censor Joe Rogan or anybody else, one might ask why the government simply doesn’t try to educate people on misinformation, or how to identify misinformation.

Instead, Murthy, members of the legacy media, and so-called “experts” are demanding that Spotify and other platforms silence Rogan and ban his podcast.

Joe Rogan’s podcast averages 11 million viewers per episode, while CNN reaches fewer than one million. MSNBC is only slightly ahead of CNN. The jealousy that members of the legacy media have of Rogan’s extensive reach is undoubtedly one of the reasons why they want to bring him to heel.

Murthy is not the only one who is calling for Rogan to be censored, this week, co-hosts on “The View” advocated for Spotify to “at least warn listeners that they could be exposed to ‘misinformation’ if they listened to podcast juggernaut Joe Rogan,” the Daily Wire reported.

During the show, the panel suggested that Spotify ought to delete episodes determined to contain “misinformation,” or add disclaimers to his show.

Spotify has already removed 42 episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience from its archives, The Wrap reported in 2021. The episodes remain unavailable on Spotify but are available elsewhere.

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