U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) revealed documents showing the White House pressured Amazon to censor books related to the COVID-19 vaccine in early 2021, on February 5.
Andrew Slavitt, a senior adviser on Biden’s COVID-19 response team, led the effort to pressure Amazon to ban “misinformation” books. “Who can we talk to about the high levels of propaganda and misinformation and disinformation of [sic] Amazon?” Slavitt asked in an email to an Amazon executive on March 2, 2021. The executive responded that Amazon had “taken a number of actions to not show misleading content on vaccinations, so if we’re missing something, please let us know.”
“If you search for ‘vaccines’ under books, I see what comes up,” Slavitt replied, sharing an attachment. “I haven’t looked beyond that but if that’s what’s on the surface, it’s concerning.”
Addressing Biden administration official Robert Flaherty, the Amazon executive later assured the White House team that its website directs users searching for vaccine books to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine information page.
“As you know, we very much want to help you get Americans vaccinated. That’s our goal,” the executive said.
Author Singled Out
As Tyler O’Neil of The Daily Signal wrote in a February 6 article, the Biden Administration specifically targeted one book, Anyone Who Tells You Vaccines Are Safe and Effective Is Lying, by British physician, prolific author, and vaccine skeptic Vernon Coleman, D.Sc.
Zach Butterworth, who was the White House director of private sector engagement in 2021, sent the Amazon executive a screenshot of Coleman’s book. “Five minutes ago I searched ‘vaccine’ on Amazon and the attached book was one of the first in the stack,” Butterworth wrote. “When I click on the product page I don’t see any CDC warning.” Slavitt wrote that Amazon “caters to people who are anti-vax.”
Coleman’s book was self-published in 2011, long before the pandemic, but Coleman has singled out the COVID-19 inoculations in his writings and appearances more recently.
“I described the COVID fraud as a fraud in February-March 2020,” Coleman told Health Care News.
Banned from Social Media
In an email to Health Care News, Coleman stated that Amazon’s censorship took a huge toll on his career. “I had sold millions of books in the U.S. and the U.K.,” said Coleman. “I had books in 26 languages—all gone. Publishers don’t even pay royalties due.”
Coleman says that not only did Amazon ban some of his books completely, but he was also banned “from all social media and YouTube.” Colman added, “My book sales have been destroyed.” Still, Coleman says Amazon is his only remaining sales outlet.
“I wrote a book about my experiences called Truth Teller: The Price,” said Coleman. “I’m pleased to say it’s on Amazon.”
Coleman had not heard that the White House pressured Amazon to censor him until Health Care News reached out to him for comment. “As far as I know my vaccine book has not yet been banned,” said Coleman. “Amazon did ban other books” which are listed as “unavailable” on the results page.
‘Demonization Will Get Worse’
Amazon caved to White House pressure to censor books skeptical of the COVID-19 vaccines in 2021, The Daily Signal reported.
Amazon told the White House via email that “we did enable Do Not Promote for anti-vax books whose primary purpose is to persuade readers vaccines are unsafe or ineffective on 3/9, and will review additional handling options for these books with you, [redacted], and [redacted] on 3/19.”
A month earlier, Amazon controversially removed Ryan T. Anderson’s book, When Harry Became Sally, which is about the transgender movement.
Coleman said that just because the pandemic is over does not mean government censorship efforts will end. “Censorship and demonization will get worse,” Coleman said. “We need public support and understanding. The public is losing access to the truth.”
Harry Painter (harry@harrypainter.com) writes from Oklahoma.