White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Scott Atlas said Twitter’s censorship of his account over him tweeting WHO information about face masks should be concerning not only because big tech is suppressing scientific facts, but also because they are preventing freedom of speech.
“The point is not the mask, as you know, the point really has nothing to do with that,” Atlas said. “The point is we are living in a world where opinion, even if it’s based in fact, even if it’s science, it is snuffed out as if it’s some kind of poison for even allowing it to be expressed.”
Atlas joined Tucker Carlson on Fox News Monday night to highlight the dangers of censorship, especially of dissenting viewpoints within science, which depends on dissent and critique to advance.
“When you cancel people out, when you cancel out facts, we are living in a world where really we are in dangerous territory,” Atlas explained.
Twitter first banned Atlas from tweeting on Sunday after he tweeted criticism of masks, claiming that they don’t work when demanded of everyone in daily use and that people should only wear them in close proximity, citing sources such as the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control.
Atlas pointed out that Twitter was censoring his sharing of information from legitimate and accepted sources of scientific and medical information.
“What I was trying to point out is that mask mandates for the general population haven’t worked in a variety of places. And the evidence which was Los Angeles County, Miami-Dade, Israel, Alabama, Hawaii, Spain — all kinds of places,” Atlas explained. “I cited the same people the same organizations that the other side wants to cite. The W.H.O., Oxford University, the CDC, these were citations with literal quotes in them.”
Even though Atlas said he “immediately retweeted clarifying my policy and the president’s policy to wear a mask when you can’t social distance,” his account was blocked and he was restricted from tweeting until he deleted the post.
“It becomes a fundamental difference — a fundamental difference really between the United States and the USSR or North Korea, or any of these other places, is freedom,” Atlas explained. “Once we don’t allow facts to be out there, the country is finished if we go down that path. Completely finished.”
Carlson agreed and praised Atlas for his bravery.
“That’s right. It’s a great country and remains a great country, but the worst people in our history suddenly are in charge, as you’re finding out,” Carlson agreed.
