Elon Musk to release ‘Fauci files’ on Twitter this week
2 min read . Updated: 04 Jan 2023, 09:44 AM IST
Premium- Anthony Fauci, the US infectious disease expert, faced a lot of flak due to his strict COVID measures policies, including mandatory masks, social distancing, isolation
Twitter CEO Elon Musk on 2 January said that he would release Twitter files of Dr Anthony Fauci, US top infectious disease expert later this week.
“Hope you’re having a great day 1 2023!" Musk tweeted on New Year’s Day, adding: “One thing’s for sure, it won’t be boring."
Juanita Broaddrick who had accused former US President Bill Clinton of rape in 1978 commented on his tweet saying, "“Waiting….for #FauciFiles." Responding to her, Musk replied, “Later this week."
Musk has released many shocking internal Twitter conversation—which he has named “Twitter Files"—claiming that the information discloses the platform’s previous efforts to suppress free speech, especially from conservative voices.
In the latest series of Twitter Files, Musk has claimed that the US government agency "demanded" the suspension of 250,000 accounts, including journalists and Canadian officials.
Earlier in December, Musk in a tweet took a jibe by using gender pronouns and used it as a way to criticise Anthony Fauci calling for his prosecution. In a tweet, he wrote, "My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci."
Anthony Fauci, the US infectious disease expert, faced a lot of flak due to his strict COVID measures policies, including mandatory masks, social distancing, isolation, etc. He came into the limelight after he took the front seat in COVID management in the USA. However, he faced even death threats for doing his job during the pandemic, reported Reuters
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had also called out Musk's public condemnation of top US health official "dangerous" and "disgusting."
"They are disgusting, and they are divorced from reality, and we will continue to call that out and be very clear about that," Jean-Pierre had said. She also praised Fauci's handling of public heath crises, including the coronavirus pandemic.
The veteran immunologist has served as an adviser to seven US presidents beginning with Republican Ronald Reagan and has had over 50 years of public service.
But it was his handling of COVID - and his blunt assessments from the White House podium that Americans needed to change their behavior in light of the pandemic - that made him a hero to public health advocates while serving under former President Donald Trump, a villain to some on the right and an unusual celebrity among bureaucratic officials used to toiling in obscurity.
The United States lead the world in recorded COVID-19 deaths with more than one million. Fauci had said he has faced death threats. He endured criticism from Trump and from various conservatives who objected to safeguards such as vaccination, social distancing and masking that he advocated to try to limit the lethality of the pandemic.
Republicans also threatened to probe Fauci if they got control of Congress in the midterm elections, in which they won control of the House of Representatives while the Democrats narrowly retained control of the Senate.
Earlier, in November 2022, Twitter quietly posted notice that it would no longer enforce its policy against COVID-19 misinformation. Fighting medical misinformation on social media has been an uphill battle, and the outcome has life-and-death consequences.
Michigan State University social media researcher Anjana Susarla noted that social media facilitates the spread of misinformation and amplifies content that’s likely to trigger heightened emotions. There’s considerable evidence that misinformation on social media reduces vaccine uptake and is making it more difficult for society to reach herd immunity, she wrote. Another issue is that what happens on Twitter doesn’t stay on Twitter. Anti-vaccine content and medical misinformation generally “can spill over into other online platforms," hampering those platforms’ efforts to combat misinformation, Susarla wrote.
(With inputs from agencies)
