Musk announces new Twitter policy: will allow questioning of 'official' scientific data

Twitter owner Elon Musk announced that the platform will implement a new "follow the science" policy which will include a "reasoned questioning of science," i.e. challenging expert scientists to corroborate that their positions are correct.

The announcement provoked a flurry of reactions, including many that singled out the White House chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was the epidemiologist responsible for providing the country's response in the initiation and development of the covid-19 pandemic and to be the visible face of the health crisis generated by the coronavirus.

"His Eminence Lord Fauci"

Evolutionary behavioral scientist Gad Saad joked sarcastically about the way many of the expert scientists who challenged some official theories were treated in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.

Musk responded to Saad and said that "anyone who says that to question them is to question science itself cannot be considered a scientist."

Among other reactions, mathematical physicist, economist and managing director of Thiel Capital, Eric Weinstein, expressed hope that the change in Twitter's policies could be a big deal on a variety of medical issues:

Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton also tweeted, "Bad news for transgender extremism, greedy totalitarians and climate alarmists."

NASA Earth mapping and data visualization leader Joshua Stevens reacted, "This is fair and reasonable. And if any scientist tells you otherwise, never again let them wax poetic about curiosity and wonder."

Response from Musk and Fauci's fans

The Tesla founder did not provide further details. But his announcement was seen as a continuation of revelations about how the platform censored information on covid-19 that contradicted the Biden Administration's narratives.

That same day, Musk revealed that some of the former Twitter staff "had an internal Slack channel called 'Fauci Fan Club,'" a reference to their adulation of Dr. Fauci. Continuing with the story, he questioned the institutional responsibility of the epidemiologist by sharing articles stating that he lied to Congress about the research that had been carried out in Wuhan and that supposedly triggered the pandemic.

He also recalled that the infectious disease expert wrote an article in 2012 about the experiment that may have triggered covid-19 called "gain of function."