Las Vegas, Nevada – Parler, the people-driven free speech platform, today released a statement from Strategic Investor and COO Jeffrey Wernick condemning Facebook and Twitter for the tech giants’ role in driving global use of lockdowns to control the spread of Covid-19.
Early in the pandemic, Facebook and Twitter designated the World Health Organization (WHO) as their primary authoritative source for information on the virus, including recommendations for lockdowns and strict social distancing. Both publishers blocked, removed or flagged posts that challenged or condemned lockdown orders, citing WHO guidelines.
But Dr David Nabarro, Great Britain's envoy to the WHO, last week called lockdowns a 'ghastly global catastrophe', said the policy would double the levels of world poverty and child malnutrition, and called on governments to end the policy.
Wernick, who has long criticized Facebook’s content curation practices, points out that lockdowns have been medically, economically and constitutionally discredited, and says Facebook and Twitter are culpable for the harm they have caused.
Early in the pandemic, Facebook and Twitter designated the World Health Organization (WHO) as their primary authoritative source for information on the virus, including recommendations for lockdowns and strict social distancing. Both publishers blocked, removed or flagged posts that challenged or condemned lockdown orders, citing WHO guidelines.
But Dr David Nabarro, Great Britain's envoy to the WHO, last week called lockdowns a 'ghastly global catastrophe', said the policy would double the levels of world poverty and child malnutrition, and called on governments to end the policy.
Wernick, who has long criticized Facebook’s content curation practices, points out that lockdowns have been medically, economically and constitutionally discredited, and says Facebook and Twitter are culpable for the harm they have caused.
“In typical authoritarian fashion, Facebook and Twitter chose to push one centralized source while browning out content offering different perspectives or competing recommendations,” said Mr. Wernick. “The resulting policy of extended lockdowns that shuttered and shattered our economy, closed our schools, and drove us to social isolation, has been an utter disaster.
“Now we see WHO officials condemning the very lockdown policy they themselves orchestrated. Clearly, the WHO failed. Facebook reinforced that central point of failure and was instrumental in driving global lockdowns and amplifying their disastrous consequences. Millions of our most vulnerable will now go hungry, grow ill, or even die as a direct result. Facebook and Twitter, both of which experienced tremendous financial gains during that same period, are complicit in that suffering.
“To best address complex issues like the global Covid pandemic requires that policy makers, as well as members of the public generally be equipped with data from multiple sources and perspectives. Human beings, even so-called ‘experts,’ are fallible. Technoauthoritarians like Facebook destroy the flow of information, prevent the natural human process of learning and error correction, and thereby drive bad policy—often with disastrous results. It’s time to #Erasebook, #Twexit and join the movement at Parler.”
Parler was founded in 2018 and has a community of over 4 million people. The platform is committed to free speech, does not mine or sell data, and does not censor content based on politics or ideology. Parler continues to stand with the People and against Technoauthoritarianism.
