Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-411_3dq3.pdf
Page Number: 45

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

11 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

(May 26, 2021).9 

Perhaps the most intense period of White House pressure 
began a short time later.  On July 15, Surgeon General Vi-
vek Murthy released an advisory titled “Confronting Health
Misinformation.”  78 Record 25171, 25173.  Dr. Murthy sug-
gested, among other things, algorithmic changes to demote 
misinformation  and  additional  consequences  for  misinfor-
mation  “ ‘super-spreaders.’ ”    U. S.  Public  Health  Service, 
Confronting  Health  Misinformation:  The  U. S.  Surgeon 
General’s Advisory on Building a Healthy Information En-
vironment 12 (2021).10  Dr. Murthy also joined Psaki at a
press  conference,  where  he  asked  the  platforms  to  take
“much,  much  more  . . .  aggressive  action”  to  combat
COVID–19  misinformation  “because  it’s  costing  people 
their  lives.”  Press  Briefing  by  Press  Secretary  Jen  Psaki 
and  Surgeon  General  Dr.  Vivek  H.  Murthy  (July  15, 
2021).11 

At the same press conference, Psaki singled out Facebook 
as a primary driver of misinformation and asked the plat-
form to make several changes.  Facebook “should provide,
publicly and transparently, data on the reach of COVID–19
[and] COVID vaccine misinformation.”  Ibid.  It “needs to 
move  more  quickly  to  remove  harmful,  violative  posts.” 
Ibid.  And it should change its algorithm to promote “qual-
ity  information  sources.”  Ibid.    These  recommendations 
echoed  Slavitt’s  and  Flaherty’s  private  demands  from  the 
preceding  months—as  Psaki  herself  acknowledged.    The 
White  House  “engage[s]  with  [Facebook]  regularly,”  she 
said, and Facebook “certainly understand[s] what our asks 

—————— 

9 https://about.fb.com/news/2021/05/taking-action-against-people-who-

repeatedly-share-misinformation. 

10 https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-misinformation-

advisory.pdf. 

11 https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/07/
15/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-and-surgeon-general-dr-
vivek-h-murthy-july-15-2021.