Big Tech has been on a rampage against what it considers to be misinformation about COVID-19. But a trusted source like a medical journal should be safe, right? Wrong.
Twitter has flagged the link to a study from the European Journal of Medical and Health Sciences as “potentially spammy or unsafe.”
The platform has continued to flag the link to this study since at least Dec. 31, 2020, when Twitter user @tickerguy posted the study in a thread. Tickerguy concluded with a tweet that said, “Note: Twitter flags a MEDICAL STUDY as "unsafe or spammy"? ***A FORMAL MEDICAL STUDY*** gets flagged by Twatter?” At the time of publishing, the link was still flagged on Twitter.
When users click on the link, they are redirected to a page that says “Warning: this link may be unsafe,” and users then have to click “continue” in order to view the study.
The study examined the use of the drug “Ivermectin as Pre-exposure Prophylaxis for COVID-19” for healthcare workers in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Prophylaxis is defined as “measures designed to preserve health (as of an individual or of society) and prevent the spread of disease,” according to Merriam-Webster. The study itself described Ivermectin as an “anti-parasitic drug” with “potent anti-viral effects, preventive capabilities, satisfactory tissue half-life and minimum adverse effects.”
Researchers examined 118 healthcare workers in a hospital in Dhaka. 58 participants were given a monthly dose of Ivermectin, and the remaining 60 acted as the control group. Both groups were exposed to COVID-19 patients. A total of 73.3 percent of the control group tested positive for COVID-19 over a three month period, while only 6.9 percent of the group that was given Ivermectin tested positive over the same period.
Researchers concluded that Ivermectin “should be subjected to large-scale trials all over the world to ascertain its effectiveness as pre-exposure prophylaxis for COVID-19.” That’s hardly a radical position to take.
Instead of learning from its past mistakes, Twitter has continued to severely discourage users from viewing certain links. In October 2020, the platform blocked a New York Post article that claimed to expose alleged corrupt dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden in Ukraine. The platform initially blocked the link completely, but later reversed course. According to a poll conducted by the Media Research Center, 45.1 percent of Biden supporters surveyed did not know about the scandal, and 9.4 percent said that they would not have voted for Biden if they would have known about the alleged corruption.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Twitter at (415) 222-9670 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
