Instagram 'Threads' App Blocks 'Covid', 'Vaccine', Other Words In Blatant Censorship
They aren't even trying to hide it anymore.
Instagram Threads is currently purposely blocking and banning search terms like "Covid" and "vaccine." Whenever a user types it in the results just come back blank, with some terms giving a link to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - ya know, because it's not like they've lied in the past.
In a statement to the Washington Post, Zuckerberg's Meta said that “The search functionality temporarily doesn’t provide results for keywords that may show potentially sensitive content," and will only allow certain words once they are "confident in the quality of the results."
That my friends is Censorship 101. But you can't say I didn't warn you.
Mark Zuckerberg's Threads app is facing criticism for censoring search words like Covid. (Photo by Aytug Can Sencar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
THREADS CRITICIZED FOR INCREASED CENSORSHIP
Meta of course does have the right to do as they please being a privately-owned corporation. But do NOT think that these social media platforms are your friend or have your best interest at heart. And don't automatically dismiss information or facts that someone else might show you just because Mark Zuckerman dubs it not worthy. It's always important to read and gain as much knowledge about everything you can from as many sources as you can.
At this point we can't even be surprised anymore, though it is telling that two years ago when the Biden White House was working with censoring Covid-related information with Facebook and Twitter they did it in hiding, but now - Zuck is openly admitting to it!
THREADS HAS BEEN LOSING MANY USERS
Conveniently Threads' censorship is happening just as Pfizer is releasing a brand new Covid vaccine in the coming days and as more medical studies are being released that show the efficiency of the original vaccines may actually be more harmful than originally led to believe. (The original Covid vaccines millions of people got are now no longer FDA approved and unavailable)
Meta is now facing criticism from not only those that want the free-flow of information, but also from parents and those that are looking for updates on Covid-policy and updates. Even Meta supporters that purposely left Twitter to go to Threads for a nicer, support-groupesque are mad at Zuck now.
Despite Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri saying just a month ago that Threads "is not going to do anything to encourage" politics and "hard news," it appears that is not true. By censoring certain terms, articles or words associated with topics that are clearly going to be discussed in the upcoming election cycle then Mosseri and Meta essentially did the opposite.
Threads latest censorship is just the latest blunder that continues to hurt the spin-off text app. Within weeks of their initial launch, the platform saw a loss of over 70% of daily users and the numbers continue to trend downward.
Gee, I wonder why.