Media top headlines July 29
In media news today, the CDC gets hit by liberal media outlets for 'confusing message' on wearing masks, WaPo's Max Boot gets ripped for tweeting Saudi Arabia is 'more progressive' than the U.S. for vaccine mandate, and NBC's Tokyo Olympics coverage spurs 'advertiser anxiety' as viewers continue to drop
Political commentator Dave Rubin is firing back at Twitter after the tech giant locked him out of his account for allegedly violating its policy on spreading coronavirus misinformation.
"Everything I said in that tweet is true," Rubin told Fox News in an interview. "Every single thing that I said in that tweet was true and this is a complete continuation of silencing any sort of dissent, anyone that questions the narrative is in a lot of trouble when it comes to Big Tech and we better fight it because we're running out of time."
The tweet that landed "The Rubin Report" host in hot water was in response to the Biden administration's evolving response to the pandemic.
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"They want a federal vaccine mandate for vaccines which are clearly not working as promised just weeks ago. People are getting and transmitting Covid despite vax. Plus now they're prepping us for booster shots. A sane society would take a pause. We do not live in a sane society," Rubin tweeted Thursday evening.
According to Twitter, however, that tweet violated its policy "on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19."
"They are lying," Rubin reacted to Twitter.
In recent days, President Biden floated the idea of mandating the vaccine for federal workers while Pfizer is looking into whether a booster shot can help combat the contagious Delta variant.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported Thursday evening that internal CDC documents are sounding the alarm that the variant may cause "more severe illness" than previously thought and that it could spread "as easily as chickenpox."
"I basically paraphrased what the president said today," Rubin told Fox News before citing the Post's report and Pfizer's exploration of booster shots.
Rubin was informed by Twitter that he can regain full access to his account within 12 hours upon deleting the tweet. Rubin explained to Fox News that he did delete the tweet only because pre-sales for his new book launch the next day.
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"I went against my better judgment because I would have preferred to stand up and fight them," Rubin admitted before explaining why he chose not to challenge Twitter's decision since the appeals process could drag out.
Rubin called it an "affirming moment," pointing to the creation of his tech platform Locals.com, where he live-streamed himself reacting to the Twitter suspension.
"If they're going to delete people for misinformation, you'd have to delete basically every single Democrat on Twitter because they all claimed that there was Russian collusion, that Trump was an agent of Russia for four years, they claimed that Brett Kavanaugh was a serial rapist, they claimed that the Covington kids were all racist, they claimed that Jussie Smollett was almost lynched, Hillary Clinton tweeted that Donald Trump was an illegitimate president, there are all endless lies from these people," Rubin said. "Who decides what COVID misinformation is? If you're banned for COVID misinformation, Fauci should be banned from the internet in perpetuity."
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Rubin offered a dire warning to those concerned about the growing censorship of Americans and the collusion between the Biden administration and Big Tech.
"If you have any flicker of independent thought, if you have any desire to use your faculties to live in a way that is right for you and not to be under complete draconian, authoritarian rule by this administration and the Democrats, who are coming for every single one of our freedoms," Rubin said. "They want you to wear masks forever, they want to be locked down forever, they want to control what you say and where you say it and who you say it to -- well, you're running out of time. And you're basically a frog in a slowly boiling pot. It's time to stand up and fight."
He continued, "Don't think politicians are gonna save you, don't think celebrities are gonna save you… figure out what you're going to do if you're not on these things because they're coming for everybody, everybody except if you endlessly bow to them. And I refuse to bow to these people."
Twitter did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.