Open letter from The BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg | The BMJ

Open letter from The BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg | The BMJ

Facebook is preventing circulation of a British Medical Journal peer-reviewed article based on a sloppy "fact-check" article from a Facebook contractor:

"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.

"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.'...

"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."