DeSantis Slams Google for Taking Down Roundtables: Censorship “by the New Elite”

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FNN) – Florida governor Ron DeSantis criticized Google for taking down the video of the pandemic round table he held in March, which YouTube called “misinformation,” calling it an act of censorship “by the new elite.”

“Google and YouTube have cited the insights of these experts I have mentioned as ‘misinformation’, even though Google and YouTube routinely host conspiracy theory videos, ranging from the cause of the 9/11 attacks to the role of 5G networks in the spread of COVID-19. Now Google and YouTube have not been, throughout this pandemic, repositories of truth but instead have acted as enforcers of a narrative,” DeSantis said during a press conference Monday with the same experts he hosted in March.

Panelists include Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor of Medicine at Standford, research associate at The National Bureau of Economic Research, MD and Ph.D. in Economics at Stanford; Martin Kulldorff, professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School; and doctor Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

DeSantis stood by his comments on lockdowns that he held in March, saying that “I certainly believe that lockdowns have caused large amounts of deaths in the US and across the world. Perhaps if we had had a freer exchange of ideas during those critical months perhaps we would have been able to avoid the terrible policies that we have seen take huge tolls in other parts of the country.”

He slammed “corporate media outlets, especially New York-based media” for becoming “cheerleaders for censorship.” “[For them] it’s better to get edited out of the narrative than tell people the truth,” he added.

Bhattacharya called the video being taken down “absolutely terrible.” “For science to work you have to have an open exchange of ideas. If you’re going to make an argument that something is misinformation, you should provide an actual argument. You can’t just take it down and say it’s misinformation without given an actual reason. It’s not enough to just say it disagrees with the CDC, let’s see the argument that YouTube used, let’s have a debate. I also agree with your interpretation of the media’s role here, censorship is not consistent with American values. I think what we did back in March was evaluate the evidence. Maybe we were right, maybe we were wrong, but that’s how science works. If somebody presents to me better evidence I’ll change my mind.”

Atlas says that what the group views as censorship is not only present in the media, but in academia as well, and it would delay arriving at a solution to a crisis. “When you have this sort of censorship in universities which are supposed to represent the source of critical thinking in the world, it doesn’t just stop the scientific truths from being arrived at, it also stops people to be willing to serve the country.”

Kulldorff said that the situation has him “very worried for the future of science because science is dependant on the free exchange of ideas and it has been for the last 300 years.” He argued that to also continue advocating the use of masks, especially in young children, is a “naive policy.”

“[President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor] Anthony Fauci says that you should still need to wear a mask. That reduces the trust in vaccines, which is very bad. We have tried many years to increase the trust in vaccines. So those that are claiming that you need to wear a mask even after you’d had your vaccine is doing more damage than a small group of anti-vaccinators have ever done.”

Atlas highlighted statistics that Florida has done as well or better than states with severe lockdowns, and all three argued there are consequences to the policies that need to be addressed.

“The key thing to prevent death is to protect the older people because they are the ones at greater risk of dying. Those who propagated the idea of lockdown are partially responsible for these 600,000 deaths. Fewer people don’t go to the hospital for chest pains and cardiovascular diseases, mental health issues have skyrocketed, cancer was never detected. Schools closed are especially hard for middle and working-class parents that can’t afford private tutoring. There is no sensible reason,” said Kulldorff.

“I think I heard Dr. Fauci say he would not visit a restaurant even after he’s vaccinated,” Bhattacharya added. “I think that’s an enormous public health messaging mistake. The vaccines are excellent, and they should be outed as excellent, they should allow you to live your life with much less fear. We should lift all lockdowns, we should open the schools immediately. We should start addressing the fear, the undue fear post-vaccination of COVID. Cases rising is not a good thing but it’s not the end of the world. There’s going to be a de-coupling of deaths and cases. We have to address the long-term effects of these lockdowns. Obesity rates, cancer screenings, mental health. Let’s end the lockdowns.”

Among the consequences, Atlas mentioned that one in four people of college age have thought of killing themselves, accoprding to a study published in June. 52% of that age group have gained an average of 28 pounds, and 50% would be afraid “of any kind of social interaction.” “The public heath officials have created a damaged generation,” he said.

“We’ve done a massive, catastrophic disservice. Who do we trust? Experts have not just failed, they have failed to admit they have failed. You should look at people who have been consistent, who have cited the data, not emotions,” he concluded.

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Juan Carlo Rodriguez is a politics and entertainment reporter for Florida National News, part of the FNN News Network. | info@floridanationalnews.com