Whistleblower who exposed Facebook's plan to censor content speaks out
Morgan Kahmann was suspended from his job after revealing the Big Tech giant's plans surrounding the vaccine
Morgan Kahmann, the Facebook whistleblower who was suspended by the tech giant after leaking internal documents exposing a "vaccine hesitancy" censorship campaign, appeared on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" about the fallout he has faced since coming forward to Project Veritas.
"Anything that questions the vaccine or the narrative regarding the vaccine, which is, you know, everyone should get the vaccine and the vaccine is good and you're not going to get many bad side effects, anything outside of that realm is basically considered under ‘vaccine hesitancy’ by Facebook's algorithms," Kahmann told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday night. "They're afraid of what people might conclude if they see that other people are having negative side effects. They think that this is going to drive up vaccine hesitancy among the population and they see that as something that they have to combat."
Kahmann, a data center technician who initially came forward anonymously to Project Veritas with the leaked documents, explained to Carlson that he was following his "moral compass."
"My moral compass says that is not the right thing to do because basically, the users at Facebook are not aware that this is going on and if you're using Facebook or a social platform and they're censoring the content of your comments unbeknownst to you, I think that's highly immoral," the ousted Facebook employee said.
"I believe that any consequences that are bestowed onto me by Facebook as a result of this leak and these documents that I leaked to Project Veritas- I think that all of these consequences don't really weigh much when it comes to having to live with myself," Kahmann said. "I saw these documents and I had to opportunity to, you know, show the public this and what's going on behind the scenes and I didn't do it, and so I wouldn't be able to live with myself after that."
Kahmann told Carlson that he was "suddenly" told to stop working and was escorted to his car after collecting all his equipment and his access badge. He was also told that an "investigatory meeting" would be scheduled with him on a later date, which he said was ultimately "canceled."
Facebook previously did not respond to Fox News' multiple requests for comment.
On Monday, Project Veritas released internal documents explaining "Vaccine Hesitancy Comment Demotion" which shows the "goal" is to "drastically reduce user exposure to vaccine hesitancy."
Another leaked document addressed "Borderline Vaccine (BV) Framework" that delves into how to classify such content with another expressed "goal" to "identify and tier the categories of non-violating content that could discourage vaccination in certain contexts, thereby contributing to vaccine hesitancy or refusal," adding "We have tiered these by potential harm and how much context is required in order to evaluate harm."
Kahmann previously told Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe during an interview that the consequences of Facebook's actions and the ramifications if such practices are made across tech giants are "way worse than anything that can happen from me getting fired from my job."
"To me… it far outweighs that because it's about more than me. It's about really everyone in the world," Kahmann said.
When asked if he thought there were "a lot of people" at Facebook who agree with him about such concerns, Kahmann estimated that "at least 25%."
"So you're telling me that 25% of the people there agree that what they're doing with this vaccine hesitancy coding and algorithms is morally wrong?" O'Keefe asked.
"Yes. That would not surprise me at all," Kahmann responded.
Kahmann has since established a fundraising campaign on GiveSendGo to support his family, which includes his wife who is seven months pregnant and their two-year-old son.
FACEBOOK WHISTLEBLOWERS LEAK DOCUMENTS REVEALING EFFORT TO CENSOR ‘VACCINE HESITANCY’: REPORT
The suspended Facebook employee previously explained what the "vaccine hesitancy" program was meant to do.
"Facebook uses classifiers in their algorithms to determine certain content… they call it ‘vaccine hesitancy.' And without the user's knowledge, they assign a score to these comments that's called the ‘VH Score,' the ‘Vaccine Hesitancy Score,’" Kahmann told O'Keefe. "And then based on that score will demote or leave the comment alone depending on the content within the comment."
Kahmann revealed that the tech giant was running a "test" on 1.5% of its 3.8 billion users with the focus on the comments sections on "authoritative health pages."
"They're trying to control this content before it even makes it onto your page before you even see it," Kahmann said.
The ratings are divided into two tiers, one being "Alarmism & Criticism" and the other being "Indirect Vaccine Discouragement" which includes celebrating vaccine refusal and "shocking stories" that may deter others from taking the vaccine.
The algorithm flags key terms in comments to determine whether or not it can remain in place but allows human "raters" to make a ruling if the algorithm cannot do so itself.
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A second insider described as a "Data Center Facility Engineer" described Facebook's actions like being in an "abusive" relationship where they're "not allowing their spouse to speak out about the things that are going on in their marriage… and limiting their voice… It's very incriminating, in my opinion."
In response to the leaked documents, Facebook told Project Veritas, "We proactively announced this policy on our company blog and also updated our help center with this information."
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