On Thursday, a series of revelations about Dr. Anthony Fauci's Twitter activity came to light.
These revelations were in response to a promise made by Elon Musk in December that he would release the "Fauci Files."
Musk had previously stated, "My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci," a slogan that was adopted by many Republican lawmakers in Congress.
It was widely believed that Fauci was unaware of Musk's comments, and he even went so far as to claim that he did not know how to use Twitter. However, it has now been revealed that Fauci participated in an account takeover of the @WHOCOVIDResponse Twitter account in March and April of 2021.
This is a stark contrast to Fauci's public statements and sworn deposition given on November 23, 2022, in which he claimed to have no involvement in Twitter.
It appears that Fauci was not alone in this endeavor, as other members of the COVID White House team, such as Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Andy Slavitt, also engaged in similar activities on Twitter. The team answered 32 questions about COVID and the COVID response, generating over 4 million impressions.
According to Paul D. Thacker, a former investigator for the U.S. Senate, Fauci's perspectives were taken not as guidance but dictated by the Twitter club. Thacker also alleges that Twitter worked closely with pharmaceutical companies to shape vaccine marketing campaigns and remove tweets that contained so-called vaccine misinformation.
Twitter also helped vaccine makers and pharmacies craft messaging to encourage more people to get the shots, which began as two shots for the initial dose and spiraled into many more as the pandemic continued and the lack of the vaccines' efficacy became more apparent.
This opened the door for further pharma partnerships between Twitter and drug makers, such as Johnson & Johnson.
These revelations are significant, as they raise questions about the role of social media in shaping public opinion and the COVID response. It remains to be seen how these developments will impact Fauci's reputation and the public's trust in the COVID response. This is a breaking story, and further updates are expected.
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