Latest Twitter Files Show Former FDA Commissioner, Current Pfizer Director Flagging Tweets for Twitter

The latest Twitter files, brought to light by journalist Alex Berenson, shine a light on the revolving door between U.S. regulatory agencies and Big pHARMa. Berenson is the latest to be granted access to the files revealing the internal workings of Twitter before Elon Musk took over.

In a Substack article on Monday, Berenson revealed that Dr. Scott Gottleib, a former FDA commissioner from 2017 to 2019 and current Pfizer board member, “saw a tweet he didn’t like” that might hurt sales of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine, so he flagged the tweet in an email to Twitter’s senior public policy manager Todd O’Boyle.

The tweet was written by Dr. Brett Giroir, a former Trump administration official, and stated, “It's now clear #COVID19 natural immunity is superior to #vaccine immunity, by ALOT. There's no scientific justification for #vax proof if a person had prior infection."

Brett Giroir @DrGiroir

It's now clear #COVID19 natural immunity is superior to #vaccine immunity, by ALOT. There's no science justification for #vax proof if a person had prior infection. @CDCDirector @POTUS must follow the science. If no previous infection? Get vaccinated!

bit.lyComparing SARS-CoV-2 natural immunity to vaccine-induced immunity: reinfections versus breakthrough infectionsBackground Reports of waning vaccine-induced immunity against COVID-19 have begun to surface. With that, the comparable long-term prote...

1:49 AM ∙ Aug 28, 2021

"This is the kind of stuff that's corrosive," Gottlieb told O'Boyle in an email. "Here he draws a sweeping conclusion off a single retrospective study in Israel that hasn't been peer reviewed. But this tweet will end up going viral and driving news coverage."

According to Berenson, O'Boyle forwarded Gottlieb's email to Twitter's "Strategist Response" team, writing, "Please see this report from the former FDA commissioner."

Giroir's tweet was then given a "misleading" label, and the tweet could not be liked or shared. Gottlieb, who apparently had a lot of time on his hands, flagged another tweet in Sept. 2021 written by COVID policy critic Justin Hart, which read, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but a viral pathogen with a child mortality rate of ~0% has cost our children nearly three years of schooling."

Justin Hart @justin_hart

Sticks and stones may break my bones but a viral pathogen with a child mortality rate of ~0% has cost our children nearly three years of schooling. 😡

1:57 AM ∙ Sep 4, 2021

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Berenson said that during the same time, Gottlieb was also pressuring Twitter to ban him, as he disclosed in an Oct. 13, 2022, Substack article. Berenson claims Gottlieb’s actions were part of a “larger conspiracy that included the Biden White House and Andrew Slavitt, working publicly and privately to pressure Twitter until it had no choice but to ban me.”

Reacting to the Twitter files disclosure, Gottlieb issued his own response on Twitter, attempting to justify his role as a censorship police officer.

"In the past, I've raised concerns with Twitter related to the safety of me and others, and threats being made on the platform. This included direct as well as specific threats. Sometimes it included statements that I believed were purposely false and inflammatory," Gottlieb wrote Monday.

Scott Gottlieb, MD @ScottGottliebMD

🧵In the past, I've raised concerns with Twitter related to the safety of me and others, and threats being made on the platform. This included direct as well as specific threats. Sometimes it included statements that I believed were purposely false and inflammatory 👇

8:35 PM ∙ Jan 9, 2023

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"The selective disclosure of my private communications with Twitter stokes the threat environment. So does actions that empower people who’ve shown little restraint when it comes to purposeful vitriol. It instigates more menacing dialogue, with potentially serious consequences."

Scott Gottlieb, MD @ScottGottliebMD

The selective disclosure of my private communications with Twitter stokes the threat environment. So does actions that empower people who’ve shown little restraint when it comes to purposeful vitriol. It instigates more menacing dialogue, with potentially serious consequences 👇

8:35 PM ∙ Jan 9, 2023

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So basically, Gottlieb doesn’t think the emails he should have never sent should have been disclosed publically because it might subject him to scrutiny from the American people who were forced to get vaccinated and don’t take kindly to manipulation. Regardless of what Gottlieb may think, he is not the victim here.

Gottlieb went on to release emails with Twitter that discuss tweets he found threatened his safety, which certainly didn’t help his position. Everyone experiences mean people on Twitter, but nobody continuously emails a Twitter executive flagging tweets he thinks should be removed by other physicians. In addition, the issue is that Gottlieb was flagging tweets that provided Americans with accurate information on COVID vaccines because they threatened a company he has a direct financial interest in.

This was the thirteenth installment of the Twitter files. Independent journalists have shared other files, including Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss, Michael Shallenberger, Lee Fang, and David Zweig. 

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