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Rapid Response:

Open letter from The BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg

Dear Mark Zuckerberg,

 

We are Fiona Godlee and Kamran Abbasi, editors of The BMJ, one of the world’s oldest and most influential general medical journals. We are writing to raise serious concerns about the “fact checking” being undertaken by third party providers on behalf of Facebook/Meta.

 

In September, a former employee of Ventavia, a contract research company helping carry out the main Pfizer covid-19 vaccine trial, began providing The BMJ with dozens of internal company documents, photos, audio recordings, and emails. These materials revealed a host of poor clinical trial research practices occurring at Ventavia that could impact data integrity and patient safety. We also discovered that, despite receiving a direct complaint about these problems over a year ago, the FDA did not inspect Ventavia’s trial sites.

 

The BMJ commissioned an investigative reporter to write up the story for our journal. The article was published on 2 November, following legal review, external peer review and subject to The BMJ’s usual high level editorial oversight and review.[1]

 

But from November 10, readers began reporting a variety of problems when trying to share our article. Some reported being unable to share it. Many others reported having their posts flagged with a warning about “Missing context ... Independent fact-checkers say this information could mislead people.” Those trying to post the article were informed by Facebook that people who repeatedly share “false information” might have their posts moved lower in Facebook’s News Feed. Group administrators where the article was shared received messages from Facebook informing them that such posts were “partly false.”

 

Readers were directed to a “fact check” performed by a Facebook contractor named Lead Stories.[2]

 

We find the “fact check” performed by Lead Stories to be inaccurate, incompetent and irresponsible.

 

-- It fails to provide any assertions of fact that The BMJ article got wrong

 

-- It has a nonsensical title: “Fact Check: The British Medical Journal Did NOT Reveal Disqualifying And Ignored Reports Of Flaws In Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Trials”

 

-- The first paragraph inaccurately labels The BMJ a “news blog”

 

-- It contains a screenshot of our article with a stamp over it stating “Flaws Reviewed,” despite the Lead Stories article not identifying anything false or untrue in The BMJ article

 

-- It published the story on its website under a URL that contains the phrase “hoax-alert”

 

We have contacted Lead Stories, but they refuse to change anything about their article or actions that have led to Facebook flagging our article.

 

We have also contacted Facebook directly, requesting immediate removal of the “fact checking” label and any link to the Lead Stories article, thereby allowing our readers to freely share the article on your platform.

 

There is also a wider concern that we wish to raise. We are aware that The BMJ is not the only high quality information provider to have been affected by the incompetence of Meta’s fact checking regime. To give one other example, we would highlight the treatment by Instagram (also owned by Meta) of Cochrane, the international provider of high quality systematic reviews of the medical evidence.[3] Rather than investing a proportion of Meta’s substantial profits to help ensure the accuracy of medical information shared through social media, you have apparently delegated responsibility to people incompetent in carrying out this crucial task. Fact checking has been a staple of good journalism for decades. What has happened in this instance should be of concern to anyone who values and relies on sources such as The BMJ.

 

We hope you will act swiftly: specifically to correct the error relating to The BMJ’s article and to review the processes that led to the error; and generally to reconsider your investment in and approach to fact checking overall.

 

Best wishes,

 

Fiona Godlee, editor in chief
Kamran Abbasi, incoming editor in chief
The BMJ

 

Competing interests:
As current and incoming editors in chief, we are responsible for everything The BMJ contains.

 

References:

 

[1] Thacker PD. Covid-19: Researcher blows the whistle on data integrity issues in Pfizer's vaccine trial. BMJ. 2021 Nov 2;375:n2635. doi: 10.1136/bmj.n2635. PMID: 34728500. https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n2635

 

[2] Miller D. Fact Check: The British Medical Journal Did NOT Reveal Disqualifying And Ignored Reports Of Flaws In Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Trials. Nov 10, 2021. https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2021/11/fact-check-british-medical-jo...

 

[3] https://twitter.com/cochranecollab/status/1458439812357185536

 

Competing interests: As current and incoming editors in chief, we are responsible for everything The BMJ contains.

 

17 December 2021
Fiona Godlee
Editor in Chief
Kamran Abbasi
The BMJ
BMJ, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JR

 

Source: https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n2635/rr-80

 

 

Edited by webtrekker
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On 12/14/2021 at 1:49 PM, Macnamara said:

 

ok but many people have tested 'positive for covid' but aren't sick because as we know the PCR test when cycled at over 35 cycles of amplification is just detecting, to quote fauci, 'dead nucleotides'

 

 

ok but you know that a symptom of the flu is the loss of taste and smell?

 

many people also feel 'like they are going to die' while they have the flu. But they don't die

 

What may kill you though is the covid jabs

Upper respiratory infection

Any type of infection of the upper respiratory tract can affect sense of taste. That includes the common cold and influenza, which can cause nasal congestion, coughing, and sneezing. The flu can also cause fever.

https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-get-your-taste-buds-back#treatments

Flu - like..... something. My brother had covid 8 months ago, his sense of smell and taste still didn't return since.  He's been to many doctors since... no one knows the cause. He doesn't have any type of ongoing infection. I had covid myself ...finally tested negative yesterday ...I've been trough cold and flu many times ...but nothing like this ... unlike a  flu / cold - covid  comes with a TOTAL loss of smell and taste which slowly coming back now (in my case ). We can call it a flu ... if is.. than it was modified on some way. 

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16 minutes ago, mrbookrah said:

Flu - like..... something. My brother had covid 8 months ago, his sense of smell and taste still didn't return since.  He's been to many doctors since... no one knows the cause. He doesn't have any type of ongoing infection. I had covid myself ...finally tested negative yesterday ...I've been trough cold and flu many times ...but nothing like this ... unlike a  flu / cold - covid  comes with a TOTAL loss of smell and taste which slowly coming back now (in my case ). We can call it a flu ... if is.. than it was modified on some way. 

 

No such thing as covid.

FFS.

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54 minutes ago, SimonTV said:

out of likes..so this confirms my beliefs   AGAIN..the tests and jabs are both killers..and if you think about it people are getting tested more than jabbed...horrendous!

Edited by soulalways
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