Extract from The Guardian
Liberal MP, who has continued to use social media to defy conventional medical wisdom, posted three links to unproven views on Covid treatments.
Last modified on Tue 16 Feb 2021 18.45 AEDT
Liberal MP Craig Kelly has revealed Facebook has banned him for one week for posting three links to medical experts’ unproven views on Covid-19 treatments.
Despite Scott Morrison publicly distancing himself from Kelly, the member for Hughes has continued to defy conventional medical wisdom through social media posts citing views of contrarian experts.
Kelly said that Facebook had deleted three posts and banned him for one week, citing an alleged breach of its community standards.
“I strongly object to the ban, there are absolutely no grounds whatsoever,” Kelly told Guardian Australia.
“The points are a legitimate point of view. I’m not posting my opinions, I’m posting the opinions of medical experts.”
The three posts related to: unproven claims about hydroxychloroquine by professor Dolores Cahill; a profile of professor Thomas Borody in the Spectator which includes advocacy of ivermectin to treat coronavirus; and claims by pathologist Roger Hodkinson that masks are “useless” for children and “paper and fabric masks are simply virtue signalling”.
Kelly said that “whether [the views are] right or wrong is a matter of debate, but their views should be debated”.
A Facebook spokesperson said: “We don’t allow anyone to share misinformation about Covid-19 that could lead to imminent physical harm.
“We have clear policies against this type of content and will remove it when we become aware of it.”
Kelly’s dispute with Facebook has already resulted in warning labels being applied to his posts and deletion of a post that described making children wear masks as child abuse.
In January, the chief medical officer Paul Kelly said there was “no evidence” anti-parasitic drug ivermectin is useful in combatting Covid-19. The most reputable global studies have found that hydroxychloroquine is ineffective as a treatment, and could have severe and even deadly side effects if used inappropriately.
Earlier in February, Morrison told parliament Craig Kelly’s advocacy for unproven Covid therapies did not “align with my views, or the views and the advice that has been provided to me by the chief medical officer”.
Morrison made two private attempts to pull the backbench MP into line, one prompted by Kelly saying he may not have the Covid vaccine.
On Tuesday Kelly said what Morrison “was concerned about was making sure nothing I said was contrary to the vaccine policy”.
“There’s nothing that I can see [in my posts] that is contrary to that policy.”
Kelly said Facebook’s concerns were “very disappointing”.
“I have great concerns about censorship – community standards should not stop us from listening to opinions of highly experienced medical professionals.”
The National Covid-19 Evidence Institute states that ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine are both “not recommended” to treat Covid-19 outside of clinical trials.
It said further trials of ivermectin are needed for special populations, including children and adolescents, pregnant and breastfeeding women, older people living with frailty and those receiving palliative care.
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