Mercola and Kennedy are accusing Warren of violating their First Amendment rights by complaining that Amazon was selling false information. The book's publisher is also a part of the lawsuit.
In September of last year, Sen. Warren sent a letter to Amazon, stating that the search and ranking of books based on false statements about COVID-19 consistently returned highly ranked and favorably tagged books. The truth about cobra is a book written by Mercola and co-authored by Cummins. The book was the #1 best seller in the political freedom category on Amazon.
Mercola has been identified as the most influential spreader of coronaviruses misinformation online and is using his book to drive sales of supplements despite the FDA warning him to stop. She thought that Amazon's lack of effort in fighting misinformation was similar to that of other internet giants like Facebook and Twitter.
Amazon had engaged in a pattern and practice of spreading false information and selling products that were inappropriate, according to Sen. Warren's letter. She asked that Amazon conduct an immediate review of its algorithms and report on the extent to which they are directing consumers to books and other products that contain false information.
Amazon said that the way they are set up works as described.
As a retailer, we respect that our customers want access to a wide variety of viewpoints on the matter, which is why we continue to list the books in question.
The response was characterized by Sen. Warren.
they can eliminate misinformation if they want to do it—but they won’t.
Mercola's book has a five-star rating based on over 5,000 reviews and is the #2 best seller in the political freedom category. Amazon sells tens of millions of books. Amazon notified the publisher that it would no longer run ads for the book, although it did not cite Sen. Warren's letter as the reason. Barnes & Noble reversed its decision not to sell the book. There is no evidence linking the bookseller's actions to Sen. Warren's letter.
Here is a short summary of Mercola and Kennedy's activities.
Mercola built a multi-million dollar empire selling supplements and other nostrums, which he promotes by fomenting distrust in medicine and regulatory authorities, and presenting his products as safer. His false claims have gotten him in trouble with the FDA. He has donated to anti-vaccine organizations. He is a prolific spreader of misinformation on health topics, which aids his trafficking in quackery when consumers buy into his rhetoric and his pricey products.
Kennedy probably has done more to sow distrust in vaccines than any other person in the world, including routine childhood vaccinations that have saved millions of lives. His competitors for the all-time record are Barbara Loe Fisher and Andrew Wakefield. He has made the most of the Pandemic, earning himself a spot on the Disinformation Dozen, a group of people who spread misinformation about COVID and COVID vaccines. Kennedy compared vaccine mandates to laws in Hitler's Germany and invoked the name of Anne Frank. The moral and intellectual decay was called out by the Auschwitz Memorial. Kennedy apologized later.
The Genetic Literacy Project says that the leader of the Organic Consumers Association is one of the most aggressive of North America's anti-GMO groups. Mike Adams and Alex Jones are unreliable sources that the group republishes misinformation from.
I don't plan to read Mercola's book. Jonathan Jarry of the Office for Science and Society has given us a reliable source of its contents. Let's see what he has to say about the lawsuit before moving on.
Summarizing the book is, in effect, summarizing the misinformation surrounding COVID-19. In short, Mercola and Cummins argue that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was engineered in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, and its escape was capitalized on by every cabal, government, and corporation you can think of to scare people into looking away while they stole most of the world’s financial resources for themselves. None of the diagnostic tests, treatments, or public health measures can be trusted; rather, the disease is mild and protection is afforded to smart people who have no health conditions, eat the right food, and load themselves up with the right supplements.
Fact-checking the book’s thousands of erroneous claims would require weeks and, I suspect, the publication of a two-tome book.
Jarry points out factual errors and exaggerations in the book. Pandemic restrictions will be permanent even as they are being lifted, according to the book. Mercola sells a supplement calledquercetin that is based on a computer simulation and not an actual in-vivo study. The whole thing was planned according to his conspiracy mindset.
People who have spent years making money off of misinformation have filed a lawsuit claiming their freedom to speak out has been impaired. Let's look at some of the particulars.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, which is where Amazon is. The innocuously-titled but vociferously anti-vaccine organization is headed by Kennedy.
The complaint disagrees with the characterization of the book by Sen. Warren as containing false and misleading information. They claim to support this.
many renowned scientists have questioned the safety and efficacy of the COVID vaccines and thousands of physicians have asked for more openness to alternative COVID treatments.
The renowned scientists include Robert Malone, a physician and anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, and Peter Navarro, an economist. To give you an idea of where that is coming from, Robert Malone himself and another anti-vaccine MD have signed on.
The First Amendment and Sen. Warren's implication that Amazon's conduct might be unlawful are protected by the book.
The motion for preliminary injunction was filed by the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, who said that they still don't know if the allegations are true.
She is represented by an election law expert and a Democratic operative.
The U.S. Attorney points out that the plaintiffs don't have any evidence that Amazon or anyone else has taken action against anyone because of Sen. The lawsuit says they don't need any evidence that her threat to Amazon is sufficient as a matter of law.
We won't get that much into the weeds, except to note a recent interesting case she cites, Association of American Physicians and Surgeons v. Schiff.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) sued Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) after he sent letters to Amazon, Google, and Facebook encouraging them to use their platforms to prevent inaccurate information on vaccines. He questioned the legal privileges these companies had. He did not mention the AAPS.
The AAPS was called out by Dr. David Gorski in 2008.
tries to represent itself as a legitimate medical professional society, but in reality it promotes antivaccine views, HIV/AIDS denialism, and an Ayn Randian view of the world in which doctors are supermen, Medicare is unconstitutional, and the government should never interfere with physicians’ prerogatives.
The AAPS has been promoting questionable information. The AAPS complained that Amazon removed Vaxxed and Shoot from its platform because of their anti- vaccine views.
When Amazon and other companies took action, the AAPS took umbrage, but they had no evidence that their downfall had anything to do with him.
The court granted Rep. Schiff's motion to dismiss the complaint based on the fact that the plaintiffs had failed to state a case.
for any Speech or Debate in either House, [Members of Congress] shall not be questioned in any other Place.
The clause protects Members of Congress and Senators from being sued for their conduct during official legislative functions, such as hearings, when they engage in other activities in service to their elected office, such investigations and gathering information.
Government officials are free to try to convince private parties to remove content protected by the First Amendment that they find dangerous to the public if she prevails on the Speech or Debate Clause defense. In her view, Sen. Warren's letter falls short. We will see if the court agrees to the question at all, and how the case is decided. Stay informed.
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