Speaking to reporters at the White House Tuesday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki encouraged big tech companies to "do more" to censor "misinformation" about the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
Psaki on @joerogan and "misinformation" on Spotify:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 1, 2022
"Our hope is that all major tech platforms and all major news sources for that matter be responsible and be vigilant...we want every platform to continue doing more..." pic.twitter.com/W3JtHZcicx
Psaki was asked about Spotify's decision to slap a disclaimer on podcasts discussing the virus after the left and the government went after host Joe Rogan for engaging in lengthy discussions contrary to the White House narrative. In a video posted on his Instagram page, Rogan took issue with the term "misinformation" and pointed out factual information about the pandemic has been repeatedly censored.
"There's a lot of people who have a distorted perspective of what I do," Rogan said. "The podcast has been accused of spreading dangerous misinformation. Specifically about two episodes...one with Dr. Pete McCullough and one with Dr. Robert Malone. Dr. Peter McCullough is a cardiologist and he is the most published physician in his field, in history. Dr. Robert Malone owns nine patents on the creation of mRNA vaccine technology and is at least partially responsible for the creation of the technology that led to mRNA vaccines. Both these people are very highly credentialed, very intelligent, very accomplished people and they have an opinion that's different from the mainstream narrative. I wanted to hear what their opinion is. I had them on and because of that, those episodes in particular, those episodes were labeled as being dangerous."
"The problem I have with the term 'misinformation,' especially today is that many of the things we thought of as misinformation just a short while ago are now accepted as fact," Rogan continued.
Psaki's statement comes one week after Surgeon General Vivek Murthy also advocated for censorship of differing viewpoints.
The “surgeon general” @vivek_murthy: “Critical part of how we get through this pandemic” is “limiting the spread of misinformation” from shows like @joerogan pic.twitter.com/xexarsaNDN
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 25, 2022