The legal case against Anthony Fauci

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In October 2020, the Great Barrington Declaration was published by three academics — Jay Bhattacharya, Sunetra Gupta and Martin Kulldorff — who appeared on UnHerd to break the story. It marked a watershed moment in the pandemic, but the authors found their criticisms of Covid policy were increasingly censored on social media. 

Now, alongside Martin Kulldorff and two other doctors, Bhattacharya is taking his case to the courts to prove collusion between the Biden administration and Big Tech to silence the signatories of the Great Barrington Declaration. Talking to UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers, he lays out the evidence that social media companies were instructed to quell scientific views which opposed government lockdown measures. Who was responsible for this infringement? According to the legal case, the conspiracy extends to the highest levels of power in Washington, and primarily at fault is the Chief Medical Advisor to the President, Anthony Fauci.

‘Yesterday’s “misinformation”’, the lawsuit reads, ‘often becomes today’s viable theory and tomorrow’s established fact.’ A coordinated response to material deemed Covid ‘misinformation’, the legal team at the New Civil Liberties Alliance argue, came at the cost of scientific rigour.

Bhattacharya tells UnHerd that “there was a debate going on inside the scientific community, and Tony Fauci and the federal government of the United States could not abide that […] because they implemented an extraordinary policy that required absolute consensus.” Further, they “suppressed and censored and smeared” any reasoned but critical voices through social media and the mainstream press. Bhattacharya stresses, “My primary motivation here is to recreate or maybe regain an environment where active scientific work can happen.”

Joining Bhattacharya was Jenin Younes, a lawyer involved in the case now developing in a federal district court, but which looks likely to eventually reach the Supreme Court. Younes condemns the online censorship which resulted from governmental overreach, saying, “If you lose your Twitter account, for many people you’re losing your voice and the ability to influence public opinion.” 

Citing the constitution, she adds, “The First Amendment is pretty clear that the government can’t censor people based on their viewpoints”, yet President Biden, Fauci and then-Press Secretary Jennifer Psaki made numerous public statements calling for tech companies to do more to stamp out any interrogation of federal pandemic management.”

Watch as Younes and Bhattacharya make their case for this potentially historic lawsuit.

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