Turning Point USA
Case #
2561

Instagram fact-checks Turning Point USA post encouraging medical freedom in relation to the COVID-19 vaccines: Student activist group, Turning Point USA, posted a graphic with the words "Let me call my own shots!" and the caption "REMINDER: The Government Has NO RIGHT To Force You To Inject Yourself With An Experimental Vaccine!" Instagram slapped a fact-check interstitial over the post claiming that "[a]ccording to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, U.S. citizens can be made to take vaccinations." Facebook and Instagram fact-checker, Lead Stories, cited the 1905 case of Jacobson v. Massachusetts in which the court forced Massachusetts resident Henning Jacobson to to pay a fine for not receiving the mandatory smallpox vaccine. The fact-check fails to mention that the smallpox vaccine had existed for over 100 years at the time of the court case. Additionally, the Supreme Court opinion left room for a citizen to object to the vaccine if his "condition, would seriously impair his health, or probably cause his death." Fact-checked posts lose exposure on Facebook feeds as they are negatively affected by the platform's algorithm. According to Facebook, users fail to click through a fact-check interstitial to see the post 95% of the time. Instagram, owned by Facebook, likely sees a similar effect.

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