Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy this month asking the company to modify its algorithms to suppress books she believes spread “COVID-19 misinformation.”
“Despite the fact that vaccination remains our greatest tool to protect Americans from the virus, myths about COVID-19 vaccines continue to spread, often facilitated by technology companies that refuse to curb misinformation,” she said.
After conducting a variety of searches in Amazon related to COVID-19 and the vaccine, Warren claimed her staff found that “the top results consistently included highly-ranked and favorably-tagged books based on falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines and cures.”
Former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson is among the authors Warren took issue with. Berenson, a frequent guest on Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, has been sharing information that goes against mainstream opinions on Covid-19 and the vaccines since the start of the pandemic. Twitter banned the writer from its platform last month for allegedly spreading misinformation.
Responding to the senator’s allegations, Berenson said his booklets “contain no misinformation.”
“As those of you who have read them know, they are sourced from government data and scientific preprints and peer-reviewed papers. I provide links to the relevant documents so readers can judge them for themselves,” he wrote on his substack, noting that the booklets have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and have near perfect reviews.
"Given the seriousness of this issue, I ask that you perform an immediate review of Amazon’s algorithms and, within 14 days, provide both a public report on the extent to which Amazon’s algorithms are directing consumers to books and other products containing COVID-19 misinformation and a plan to modify these algorithms so that they no longer do so," the senator demanded.
Amazon has responded to the letter in a statement.
"As a company, we continue to encourage our employees to get vaccinated, and we believe it is an important step for communities to stay healthy and recover from the pandemic. As a retailer, we respect that our customers want access to a wide variety of viewpoints on the matter, which is why we continue to list the books in question," an Amazon spokesperson told Fox News.
Warren, who spent the six-page letter denouncing misinformation, also blasted Ivermectin, which she said “is used to treate [sic] parasites in livestock”—completely ignoring the fact that the drug is also used for humans in tablet form to treat a variety of parasites. As Katie has reported, the drug won a Nobel prize for its “benefit to mankind.” And while its use to treat Covid-19 has not been approved, many have said the drug aided in their recovery.
Additionally, according to a study in the American Journal of Therapeutics, “Moderate-certainty evidence finds that large reductions in COVID-19 deaths are possible using ivermectin. Using ivermectin early in the clinical course may reduce numbers progressing to severe disease. The apparent safety and low cost suggest that ivermectin is likely to have a significant impact on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic globally.”
"Ivermectin is likely to be an equitable, acceptable, and feasible global intervention against COVID-19. Health professionals should strongly consider its use, in both treatment and prophylaxis."https://t.co/pLIE8sZ4Pr
— Robert W Malone, MD (@RWMaloneMD) August 23, 2021