Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-411_3dq3.pdf
Page Number: 41

Cite as:  603 U. S. ____ (2024) 

7 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

line of his email contained this accusation: “You are hiding 
the  ball.”  30  id.,  at  9366.  Flaherty  noted  that  the  White 
House was “gravely concerned that [Facebook] is one of the
top drivers of vaccine hesitancy,” and he demanded to know 
how Facebook was trying to solve the problem.  Id., at 9365. 
In his words, “we want to know that you’re trying, we want
to know how we can help, and we want to know that you’re 
not playing a shell game with us when we ask you what is
going on.”  Ibid. 

Andy  Slavitt,  the  White  House  Senior  Advisor  for  the
COVID–19  Response,  chimed  in  with  similar  complaints. 
“[R]elative to othe[r]” platforms, he said, “interactions with
Facebook are not straightforward” even though the misin-
formation problems there, in his view, were “worse.”  Id., at 
9364.  According to Slavitt, the White House did not believe
that Facebook was “trying to solve the problem,” so he in-
formed Facebook that “[i]nternally we have been consider-
ing our options on what to do about it.”  Ibid. 

that 

Facebook responded apologetically to this and other mis-
sives.  It acknowledged that “[w]e obviously have work to do
to gain your trust.”  Id., at 9365.  And after a follow-up con-
versation, the platform promised Flaherty and Slavitt that
it would adopt additional policies to “reduc[e] virality of vac-
cine hesitancy content.”  Id., at 9369.  In particular, Face-
book  promised  to  “remove  [any]  Groups,  Pages,  and  Ac-
counts” 
. . . 
“disproportionately 
sensationalized  content”  about  the  risks  of  vaccines,  even 
though it acknowledged that user stories about their expe-
riences and those of family members or friends were “ofte[n] 
true.”  Ibid.    Facebook  also  promised  to  share  additional
data with the White House, ibid., but Flaherty was not fully 
satisfied.  He said that the additional data Facebook offered 
was not “going to get us the info we’re looking for,” but “it
shows to me that you at least understand the ask.”  Id., at 
9368. 

promot[e] 

In  April,  Flaherty  again  demanded  information  on  the