FDA & Google Pledge To Protect Stupid People From ‘Misinformation’ & DOJ & FTC Settle with GoodRX For Disclosing Personal Data to 3rd Parties
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/fda-robert-califf-combat-misinformation/?
As Public Trust Wanes, FDA Pledges to ‘Save Lives’ by Policing Online Content
U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf has made combating “misinformation” a top priority for the agency, arguing it is a “leading cause of death” — though he admitted he can’t back up that claim with facts.
Since U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf began his second tenure as the agency’s head in February 2022, he has made combating “misinformation” one of his top priorities, arguing it is “a leading cause of preventable death in America now” — though “this cannot be proved,” he said.
In an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press (AP), Califf, who also headed the FDA between 2016 and 2017, reiterated his pledge to “save lives” by policing online content.
‘Easier’ to inform public when there were fewer communication channels (See link for article)
Important quote:
“Almost no one should be dying of COVID in the U.S. today,” he said, adding that people who deny themselves the vaccines “are dying because they’re misinformed.”
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A few points about Califf & the FDA:
- he has conflicts of interest with Big Pharma, and worked at Verily, a life sciences company owned by Google‘s parent company, Alphabet Inc.
- he says the “vaccines are basically working.”
- he compares “alternative” therapies for COVID to “snake oil, which the agency says includes ivermectin, the “anti-parasite drug intended for farm animals.”
- he believes if people were up to date on the clot shots and taking an “authorized” antiviral, COVID deaths could have been prevented.
- he bemoans the loss of the previous “hierarchy of information transmission,” where they funneled the information down.
- he believes in using social media and the FDA has created memes of Scooby-Doo and SpongeBob urging Americans to get boosted and ignore misinformation.
- he stands by the FDA‘s seal of approval for medical products despite its credibility crisis
- he, like Walensky, knows that the government isn’t going to solve all of this on its own and calls for a vast network of knowledgable people who devote part of their day to combating ‘misinformation.’ Unfortunately, many knowledgable people have been maligned, censored, persecuted and fired for defying the government narrative.
- There is a lawsuit against the FDA for their illegal anti-ivermectin actions.
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/google-prebunking-inoculate-against-misinformation/?
Google Expands Campaign to ‘Inoculate’ People Against ‘Misinformation,’ But Critics Say It’s All About Money
Google said last week it plans to expand its campaign to “inoculate” people against misinformation, but critics called out the tech giant for promoting government and corporate interests.
Google said last week it plans to expand into Germany its campaign to “inoculate” people against misinformation — as if it were a virus — after seeing “promising results” in Eastern Europe.
The campaign is based on an approach called “prebunking” designed to teach people how to spot false claims before encountering them, thereby “inoculating” them against the “disease” of misinformation “like a vaccine does” against a physical disease, Euronews reported.
The tech giant will release a series of short videos that highlight techniques — such as fear-mongering, scapegoating, false comparisons, exaggeration and missing context — that are commonly used to promote misleading claims. (See link for article)
Important excerpt:
Google’s “prebunking” videos will run as advertisements on Facebook, YouTube or TikTok in Germany. A similar campaign in India is also in the works, the AP reported.
Last fall, Google ran a test video campaign in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
(See link for article)
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For immediate release
Feb. 22, 2023
Digital Healthcare Platform Ordered to Pay Civil Penalties and Take Corrective Action for Unauthorized Disclosure of Personal Health Information
The Department of Justice, together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announced today that the government has resolved allegations that GoodRx Holdings Inc., doing business as GoodRx Gold, GoodRx Care, and Hey Doctor (GoodRx), violated the FTC Act and the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule. Pursuant to a settlement by the parties, a consent order was entered last Friday by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The government’s complaint, filed on Feb. 1, alleges that by disclosing millions of users’ personal health information to third parties without the users’ authorization, consent, or knowledge, GoodRx violated the FTC Act’s prohibition on unfair and deceptive trade practices and the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule. The users’ information that was disclosed included personally identifying information, as well as details about medications and sensitive health conditions. (See link for article)
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**Comment**
GoodRx agreed to pay $1.5 million civil penalty but claims innocence and supposedly only settled to “avoid the time and expense of protracted litigation.”
The FTC alleges that these practices took place for YEARS and were not reported to the government. Facebook, Google, and Criteo are some of the 3rd parties listed as recipients of users’ information.
Before going into effect, a federal court must approve the proposed order. If approved, the company would be barred from sharing users’ health information for advertising purposes. Source
GoodRx also used pixel technology which tracked IP addressed and web page URL information.
But, before you rejoice that the FTC is attempting to reign in private data, for decades the FTC has protected Big Pharma by going after anything that competes with it including natural products, alternative health practitioners, etc. The FTC also is allowing Amazon to become a health care provider through the purchase of One Medical, an online membership-based primary care provider with 188 medical clinics.
Amazon has spent years making deeper forays into healthcare by:
- buying PillPack in 2018 and used the provider to launch an in-house pharmacy service
- introducing an app-based health service for employees in 2019 that it later offered to other companies
- introducing a custom Alexa for healthcare
Obtaining One Medical theoretically completes the picture by allowing Amazon to handle everything from minor doctor’s appointments to prescriptions.
Digitization is being used to control the public by conveniently acquiring and centralizing information, and as pointed out by Health Impact News, “dataism” is the new religion of AI and transhumanism as those who own and control data, control life. Data is needed to train AI and is the new coveted source of wealth and control sought for today as pointed out by WEF’s Claus Schwab:
“Our life in 10 years from now will be completely different, very much affected,” Schwab explained, “and who masters those technologies, in some way, will be the master of the world.” Source
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