New threat to free speech

WHO and YouTube

https://www.who.int/teams/digital-health-and-innovation/digital-channels/combatting-misinformation-online
John’s e mail

[email protected]

WHO works with social media policy departments to ensure company policy and guidelines for content providers are fit for purpose.

https://www.who.int/campaigns/connecting-the-world-to-combat-coronavirus/how-to-report-misinformation-online

WHO provide a helpful guide on how to report misinformation online

Inaccurate information spreads widely and at speed,

making it more difficult for the public to identify verified facts and advice from trusted sources, such as their local health authority or WHO.

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9795167?hl=en

As a starting point in the UK, only NHS organisations are being invited to self-certify against the NHS Standard for Creating Health Content.

By completing the self-certification process, an NHS organisation channel will be eligible for information panels indicating NHS credibility.

From FDA to MHRA: are drug regulators for hire?

https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1538.full

Regulatory agencies, large proportions of their budgets,

funded by the industry they are sworn to regulate

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

1992, Prescription Drug User Fee Act, allowing industry to fund the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) directly through “user fees”

Net PDUFA fees collected

$29m in 1993

$884m in 2016 (65% of budget)

FDA, 9 out of 10 of its past commissioners between 2006 and 2019 went on to secure roles linked with pharmaceutical companies

European Medicines Agency (EMA)

Industry fees funded 20% European Medicines Agency (EMA), in 1995

By 2010, 75%

Today, 89%

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

86% of funding from Pharmaceutical Industry

Australia

https://www.tga.gov.au
Proportion of TGA budget derived from industry, 96%

WHO funding

https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiNzNmNTRkMWEtNmZjMS00NzdjLWEyMDYtYWExYzA4NzVhZGQwIiwidCI6ImY2MTBjMGI3LWJkMjQtNGIzOS04MTBiLTNkYzI4MGFmYjU5MCIsImMiOjh9

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/who-funds-world-health-organization-un-coronavirus-pandemic-covid-trump/

The second-largest funder is the Bill and Melinda Gates

Foundation, which provides 9.8% of the WHO's funds

Appendix

https://genius.com/George-orwell-nineteen-eighty-four-appendix-the-principles-of-newspeak-annotated

https://www.orwell.ru/library/novels/1984/english/en_app

It was expected that Newspeak would have finally superseded Oldspeak (or Standard English, as we should call it) by about the year 2050

The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible.

The C vocabulary was supplementary to the others and consisted entirely of scientific and technical terms. These resembled the scientific terms in use today, and were constructed from the same roots, but the usual care was taken to define them rigidly and strip them of undesirable meanings.

War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength

Next Monday, 14th November

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/has-big-pharma-hijacked-evidence-based-medicine-tickets-444525075467