{"id":273411,"date":"2023-09-18T06:55:56","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T06:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=273411"},"modified":"2023-09-20T07:55:24","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T07:55:24","slug":"zuckerbergs-threads-app-blocks-search-results-for-covid-and-vaccines-as-traffic-continues-to-plummet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=273411","title":{"rendered":"Zuckerberg\u2019s Threads App Blocks Search Results for \u2018COVID\u2019 and \u2018Vaccines\u2019, As Traffic Continues to Plummet"},"content":{"rendered":"

21st<\/sup> News Wire \u2013 Sept 15, 2023<\/strong><\/h1>\n

This latest news leave little doubt: Mark Zuckerberg wants to avoid anything that might be deemed as \u2018hard news\u2019 on his new virtual \u2018safe space.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zuck\u2019s new \u201cTwitter killer\u201d app<\/a> rolled out its new Orwellian search function last week for US-based users, as well as in other western propaganda zones including the UK, Canada, Mexico, and India.<\/p>\n

A search for COVID-related terms generated a pop-up link to the website of the de facto Ministry of Truth, the vaunted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).<\/p>\n

Again, it\u2019s the convergence of state and corporate interests, aka fascism<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Incredibly brazen\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Bryan Jung <\/strong>from the <\/em>Epoch Times<\/strong><\/em><\/a> reports\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Threads, Meta\u2019s recent competitor to Twitter, is facing harsh criticism for blocking search results for terms related to the pandemic, including vaccines.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The new text platform, which is linked to Instagram, rolled out its new search function last week, a major step towards giving it more parity with X, formerly known as Twitter.<\/p>\n

After Threads\u2019 July release, Meta has been rolling out several much needed updates in recent weeks, including a requested desktop version and user search functionality.
\nHowever, within 24 hours of the recent update, the social media giant was hit with controversy, as the\u00a0new search function proved useless for those wanting to look for posts related to the COVID-19,\u00a0reported<\/a> The Washington Post.<\/p>\n

Threads Users Shocked to Find Search Results Blocked<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Many users were upset when their search\u00a0on Threads for content related to \u201cCOVID\u201d and \u201cvaccines\u201d was met with a blank screen and a pop-up redirecting them to the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

\u201cZuck treats users like children. He gets to decide what they will see and talk about. This is reason alone enough to reject Threads and embrace X,\u201d said Michael Robertson, a tech CEO, in a\u00a0post<\/a>\u00a0on X.<\/p>\n

Meta confirmed its search policy restrictions in a press statement, saying that the text platform is blocking users from searching for words that could bring up \u201csensitive\u201d posts, for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe search functionality temporarily doesn\u2019t provide results for keywords that may show potentially sensitive content,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will be able to search for keywords such as \u2018COVID\u2019 in future updates once we are confident in the quality of the results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meta acknowledged that Threads was intentionally blocking other terms but declined to provide a list of them.<\/p>\n

A search by The Washington Post discovered that the words \u201csex,\u201d \u201cnude,\u201d \u201cgore,\u201d \u201cporn,\u201d \u201ccoronavirus,\u201d \u201cvaccines,\u201d and \u201cvaccination\u201d were also among blocked terms.<\/p>\n

Health Experts Decry Censorship<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Public health experts and workers also were critical of the company\u2019s decision, telling The Post that its timing was poor, especially amid reports of a recent virus uptick.<\/p>\n

\u201cCensorship doesn\u2019t work. Misinfo still gets circulated by code names & other platforms. Tech companies should invest in real solutions like moderation\/education,\u201d Lucky Tran, director of science communication at Columbia University,\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0in a post on X.<\/p>\n

Mr. Tran previously told The Post that the decision to censor searches about COVID will make it harder for public health experts and people who work in public health to get out important info to the public about how they can protect themselves.<\/p>\n

Hospitalizations\u00a0in the United States rose nearly 16 percent last week, and have been rising steadily since July, but less than for the same week a year ago, according to the CDC.<\/p>\n

CDC statistics\u00a0show<\/a>\u00a0that deaths from the virus are less than a quarter of what they were during the same period in 2022.<\/p>\n

The agency said cases of the virus are likely to continue into the winter.<\/p>\n

Former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Director Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week\u201d over the weekend that given the current level of immunity in the population, \u201cthe chances of this being an overwhelming rush of cases and hospitalizations is probably low.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the FDA approved another round of COVID boosters on Sept. 11 that are expected be available in the coming days.<\/p>\n

New Meta Platform Sees Decrease in Users Since Launch<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meta\u2019s decision to block certain search terms illustrates its desire to avoid encouraging any topics that could be deemed \u201chard news\u201d on its platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitics and hard news are inevitably going to show up on Threads\u2014they have on Instagram as well to some extent\u2014but we\u2019re not going to do anything to encourage those verticals,\u201d Adam Mosseri, Instagram\u2019s chief who was instrumental in the launch of Threads,\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0this summer.<\/p>\n

However, Twitter\u2019s ability to share real-time news and information was crucial to its rise to prominence and remains one of its core features.<\/p>\n

A\u00a02021\u00a0survey<\/a> by the Pew Research Center showed that about 4 in 10 Americans said that social media was an important source for news about the COVID-19 vaccine and virus.<\/p>\n

Ever since Threads launched over the summer in an effort to take advantage of some users\u2019 disappointment with X after its take over by Elon Musk, the platform has since failed to maintain its momentum.<\/p>\n

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg\u00a0boasted<\/a>\u00a0after the launch that he was able to get\u00a0100 million new sign-ups within five days of it going live.<\/p>\n

Time spent on the app service has since fallen by 85 percent last month, according to tech blog Similarweb.<\/p>\n

\u201cThreads reached 100 million sign ups over the weekend. That\u2019s mostly organic demand and we haven\u2019t even turned on many promotions yet. Can\u2019t believe it\u2019s only been 5 days!\u201d Mr. Zuckerberg said in a post at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just began rolling out keyword search for Threads to additional countries last week. The search functionality temporarily doesn\u2019t provide results for keywords that may show potentially sensitive content. People will be able to search for keywords such as \u2018COVID\u2019 in future updates once we are confident in the quality of the results,\u201d a Meta spokesperson told The Epoch Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s new text platform rolled out its new search function last week. Not only does it seem to censor search results for more controversial topics, but a search for COVID-related terms generated a pop-up link to the website of the de facto Ministry of Truth, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":273413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-controlling-the-news-andor-the-free-exchange-of-ideas-and-information","category-mind_control"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=273411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273412,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273411\/revisions\/273412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/273413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=273411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=273411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=273411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}