CfA's June 4, 2021 Newsletter

Our Recent Work:

• Report: 'Covid Kill Shot': YouTube Fails to Stop Vaccine Conspiracies: On Tuesday, CfA's Tech Transparency Project (TTP) released a report documenting YouTube's failure to deliver on its October 2020 promise to ban all videos on its platform containing misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines. During its investigation, CfA found numerous videos making baseless accusations that the vaccines have been linked to deaths and miscarriages, contain fetal byproducts, or can cause transmissible health risks. (Press Release, Report)
  • Despite YouTube's claim that it is getting better at removing videos that violate its rules, its inability to stop the spread of Covid-19 vaccine misinformation exemplifies its poor track record of moderating dangerous content on its platform.

• CfA Requests Investigation into Rep. Roger Williams for Abusing Position to Aid Long-Time Donor: On Thursday, CfA filed a complaint requesting the Office of Congressional Ethics investigate whether Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) abused his position as a House Financial Services Committee member to influence the outcome of an ongoing bankruptcy case in favor of long-time donor Gary Martin. (Press Release, Complaint)
  • The complaint was covered by Punchbowl News.

• Blog: Reforms for Accessing Federal Public Court Records Are Long Overdue: On Thursday, CfA published a blog post calling for reforms to the Public Access to Court Electronic Record service (PACER), which provides electronic access to federal court records for the general public. During our investigation of Rep. Roger Williams, we found that necessary deposition documents were not available on PACER. To get them, we had to contact the court clerk, pay 50 cents per page (five times more than the normal amount for federal court documents), and mail in a money order — requiring a trip to the post office during a pandemic. This process was unnecessarily burdensome. (Blog Post)
  • "Reforming PACER by passing the Open Courts Act and making it free, ensuring that all public documents, including exhibits, are electronically available, and allowing users to keyword search names and entities across all documents would remove barriers for those who use court records to hold both those in power and the justice system accountable."

What We're Reading:

• Alphabet Faces Pressure from Shareholders on Human Rights at Annual Meeting: "Google's parent company Alphabet faced a barrage of withering complaints at its annual meeting on Wednesday, as shareholders slammed the tech giant over its efforts in human rights, combating misinformation and establishing whistleblower protections." (CNET, June 2)

• Facebook to End Special Treatment for Politicians after Trump Ban:  "Facebook plans to end its controversial policy that mostly shields politicians from the content moderation rules that apply to other users, a sharp reversal that could have global ramifications for how elected officials use the social network. The change, which Facebook is set to announce as soon as Friday, comes after the Oversight Board — an independent group funded by Facebook to review its thorniest content rulings — affirmed its decision to suspend former President Donald Trump but critiqued the special treatment it gives politicians, stating that the “same rules should apply to all users.” The board gave Facebook till June 5th to respond to its policy recommendations." (The Verge, June 3)

• House Democrats Finally Get to Interview Former White House Counsel McGahn: "Former Trump White House Counsel Don McGahn is testifying Friday before the House Judiciary Committee about former President Donald Trump's attempts to obstruct the Russia investigation, in a closed-door interview that's the culmination of a two-year court fight Democrats waged against the Trump administration. The interview is poised to have McGahn put on record with Congress about some of the most pivotal moments of the Trump presidency, such as when Trump directed McGahn to fire then-special counsel Robert Mueller and McGahn refused" (CNN, June 4)

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