Raheem Kassam
Case #
3407

Instagram fact-checker flagged a post by Raheem Kassam exposing a disturbing opinion piece: Raheem Kassam posted a screenshot of a Forbes article written in August 2020 originally headlined “Could A ‘Morality Pill’ Help Stop The Covid-19 Pandemic?” Kassam highlighted the beginning of the article in his post. The Forbes piece refers to bioethicist Parker Crutchfield and entertains his suggestion "that widespread administration of psychoactive drugs could provide 'moral enhancement' that would make people more likely to adhere to social norms such as wearing masks and adhering to social distancing guidelines." Later in the article the author, Paul Hsieh, sums up one of Crutchfield's remarks. He writes, "mandating people take a 'morality pill' doesn’t alter the fundamental moral calculus of any proposed policy. It merely makes enforcing good (or bad) laws easier for the authorities." [Emphasis added]. Kassam's Instagram post highlighting the article was fact-checked and deemed false, according to screenshots posted on Kassam's Substack newsletter. Despite the headline and the closing argument of the Forbes piece, Instagram fact-checker The Healthy Indian Project claimed "The claim is taken out of context from his article and is therefore false." The fact-checker argued that because the author changed the headline and added a disclaimer, readers cannot claim he meant what his piece clearly suggested.

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