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Children’s Health Defense (CHD) has filed a significant First and Fifth Amendment lawsuit against Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and two of Facebook’s “fact-checkers” for illegal censorship and “taking” under “color of law,” as well as false promotion/false misrepresentations under federal law (Lanham and RICO Acts).   

On Nov. 13, CHD filed its 150-page First Amended Complaint in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, California. CHD raises detailed factual allegations regarding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), CDC Foundation, and World Health Organization’s extensive relationships and collaborations with Facebook and Zuckerberg, in which Facebook’s joint action in a censorship campaign with the government is but the “tip of the iceberg.” 

CHD also raises detailed allegations about how Facebook accomplishes its censorship of CHD’s page through its surrogate “fact-checkers,” who are neither “independent” nor objective, and why this agency relationship cannot insulate Facebook from liability under the federal Communications Decency Act, Section 230.

 CHD also alleges that Facebook’s misconduct in appointing itself the “arbiter of truth” in order to pervert the very notion of an open scientific debate makes this a perfect vehicle for applying civil law to hold Facebook liable. Facebook claims that it can’t be liable even if it purposely misleads its own users, but that dangerous result cannot be the law.

The court (Honorable Susan Illston) will hear arguments on Facebook’s motion to dismiss on March 19, 2021. Stay tuned!

Learn more by watching this press conference from August after the lawsuit was originally filed: