[Just The News] NIH and medical research institutions funded or sponsored a dozen studies involving Facebook with targets include Latinos, African Americans, holiday travelers, states with lower COVID vaccination rates and even Mayan-language speakers.Legislation that would use federal agencies to "nudge" social media platforms to reduce the spread of "harmful content" isn't going anywhere in the waning days of the 117th Congress.
As evidenced by the ongoing release of the "Twitter Files," however, that's no impediment to the government — and the research universities that so heavily depend on federal funding — enlisting Big Tech to promote favored narratives and throttle competing arguments on contentious topics.
Federal agencies and U.S. universities together have funded or sponsored a dozen studies mentioning Facebook and COVID-19, according to the National Institutes of Health's ClinicalTrials.gov database.
While some concern behaviors and health outcomes affected by the early pandemic, such as ways to increase cancer screening and "help-seeking behavior" for mental health problems, others promote government-approved messages on COVID interventions such as vaccines, testing, mask-wearing and social distancing.
NIH, for instance, funded studies targeting the Oregon Latino community as well as the 19 states with first-dose COVID vaccination rates under 60% as of fall 2021.
The 3,600-participant Latino study, started in February 2021 and is estimated to close June 30. It is currently marked "active, not recruiting." Run by the University of Oregon, it says Latinos represent 13% of the Beaver State but 44% of COVID cases.
The Facebook element of the study is part of the control group, which receives Facebook ads and other "strategies that are typically conducted by county and community-based organizations that serve under-represented groups to notify people of testing opportunities related to COVID-19."