ICAN has obtained emails showing that, in 2019, Facebook was collaborating with CDC on combating so-called “vaccine misinformation.” In the emails, Facebook sends CDC language on vaccines and requests that CDC add it to its website so that Facebook could cite CDC as the source! Worse yet, the emails reveal a Facebook employee actively trying to avoid disclosure of their scheme under FOIA.
Lead Counsel, Aaron Siri, Esq., lays out the details here:
In 2019, ICAN, through its attorneys, submitted a FOIA request for CDC’s communications with Facebook. Nearly four years later, CDC has finally produced them.
In a March 2019 communication titled, “Vaccine Misinfo,” a leader of Facebook’s public policy team, Payton Iheme, asks CDC to collaborate on combatting purported health misinformation, writing: “Facebook has been working on an effort to combat health misinformation which we take very seriously…we’ll be announcing the first stage of this process which involves establishing new policies and action we’re taking against misinformation about vaccines.”
This Facebook leader also highlighting that Facebook “plan[ned] to reference the CDC along with other health organizations,” and requested a meeting to discuss the CDC’s “thoughts around our longer term goals.” CDC responded enthusiastically.
As an example of that apparent collaboration, in one incredible exchange, a public policy manager at Facebook, Jason Hirsh, emails CDC proposed language that Facebook wanted to add to its website. Hirsh noted, however, that, to cite CDC as its source, CDC had to actually add the language to CDC’s website:
[W]e have also been considering this language: “According to the CDC, ‘the benefits of vaccines are much greater than the risks associated with them. Vaccines can protect you, your family, and your community by preventing the spread of serious illness.’” Any thoughts you have about this option would be very helpful. It zooms the focus out to include single people and adults without children. For this language, we would need to add the sentences to your website. On our last call you thought that would not be an issue, but I want to confirm that this is the case. [emphasis added]
“We would need to add the sentences to your website…” Facebook incredibly sees itself as part of CDC’s “we.” When CDC’s Digital Media folks responded saying that they would send over some proposed language, Hirsh followed up, again asking: “If we all like language that generally flows from your site but is not specifically on there, do you still think it is possible to get one of the web pages modified slightly?”
CDC ultimately proposes a few language options, one of which essentially adopted Facebook’s proposed language: “Safe, effective vaccinations are the best way to protect you, your family, and your community from the serious effects of certain diseases.”
At that point CDC and Facebook have another call to “align on final language.” Even more astonishingly, Hirsh sends another email acknowledging an attempt to avoid FOIA:
In addition to the invite, given FOIA and other sensitivities, I also sent a separate note without context including our current finalist options for the inform treatment.
ICAN’s attorneys sent an additional FOIA request specifically for this “separate note” meant to avoid FOIA, which turned out to be yet more language options for CDC to choose from regarding Facebook’s communication on vaccines.
This is all incredible on many levels and ICAN will, as it always does, continue to see how deep this incredible level of collusion between Facebook and the CDC runs.
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See below for more instances of ICAN’s FOIA discoveries:
