Google’s Secret Censorship: Vaccine Info Silenced Long Before COVID

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, major technology platforms worked closely with federal officials to suppress dissenting views about lockdowns, mandates, and mass vaccination policies. Companies that control the flow of online information censored accurate reporting and debate when it conflicted with the government’s preferred narrative.

A May 2024 congressional report, The Censorship-Industrial Complex, detailed the Biden administration’s involvement in this coordination. Only three months later, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted in a letter to Congress that Facebook had removed truthful content under direct pressure from the White House.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, followed with its own disclosure. In response to a congressional subpoena, the company confirmed that Biden administration officials repeatedly pushed YouTube to take down videos that did not violate YouTube’s rules. Alphabet called the pressure “unacceptable and wrong” but insisted that it only enforced its own “misinformation” policies.

That defense avoids a critical point: YouTube’s policies were created in consultation with the same government health authorities promoting sweeping emergency powers — agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Their definitions shaped the rules.

The result was predictable. True information was restricted, while government-aligned claims — even those later shown to be false — spread freely.

A United Nations official openly acknowledged this dynamic during a 2022 World Economic Forum panel, explaining that Google was helping authorities “own the science” through its control over search results.

Alphabet’s letter to Congress also noted that YouTube had recently changed its policies and would reinstate channels removed for content no longer considered “misinformation.” The company effectively admitted that creators had been punished for sharing statements now recognized as accurate.

Google framed itself as a reluctant participant pressured by the White House. But the broader history tells a different story: Google’s censorship of health information long predates COVID-19, and its motivations appear closely tied to the company’s deep investments in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.

Alphabet’s network of subsidiaries — including Calico, DeepMind, Isomorphic Labs, and Verily Life Sciences — maintains extensive financial and research relationships with drug and vaccine manufacturers. Below is a condensed history of those ties, focusing on Verily.

Google Ventures Enters Pharma and Biotech

Google launched its venture capital arm, Google Ventures (now GV), in 2009. From its early years, GV invested heavily in pharmaceutical and biotech startups.

One prominent example was Flatiron Health, a company developing AI tools to analyze oncology data. GV led multiple funding rounds and placed senior Google executives on Flatiron’s board before the company was sold to Roche Pharmaceuticals for $1.9 billion.

GV also invested in DNAnexus (DNA sequencing), SynapDx (autism laboratory testing), and 23andMe, which merged consumer DNA testing with biomedical research fueled by customer data.

Google X and Pharma Collaborations

In 2010, Google created its research arm Google X (now X, The Moonshot Factory). Its internal Life Sciences division partnered directly with major drug manufacturers.

Key collaborations included:

• Novartis (2014): licensing Google’s “smart lens” contact-lens biosensor technology.

• Baseline Study (2014): a massive Google-run project collecting genetic and molecular data to support drug discovery.

• Johnson & Johnson (2015–2017): development of surgical robots through a joint venture that J&J later acquired entirely.

Privacy experts criticized the Baseline Study early on, warning that Google’s model — collecting detailed bodily data from thousands of volunteers — created unprecedented risks.

Verily: Alphabet’s Health Data Powerhouse

Google reorganized into Alphabet in 2015, and the Life Sciences division became Verily Life Sciences, led by Andrew Conrad. Verily expanded Google’s push into biotechnology and data-driven health services, developing tools that harvest biometric data and package it for pharmaceutical research.

Conrad explained the company’s mission by saying, “Only through the truth are we going to defeat Mother Nature.”

Verily’s partnerships were notable:

• GSK (2016): formation of Galvani Bioelectronics to develop implantable “bioelectronic medicines.”
  (Board members included Moncef Slaoui — later head of Operation Warp Speed.)

• Sanofi (2016): creation of Onduo, a virtual-care and chronic-disease management company.

• Fitbit acquisition (2021): adding consumer wearables to Verily’s health-data ecosystem.

• Project Baseline → Verily Me (2024): a large-scale data-collection system with an app prompting users for medical information, including vaccination history.

Verily Me now encourages users to consent to sharing health records with Verily and its partners, while retaining collected data even after a user exits the study.

Alphabet’s Support for Lockdowns and Digital Health Passes

Google’s influence during the COVID-19 response extended far beyond YouTube moderation:

• Vaccine passports: Google collaborated with Apple to build Bluetooth-based contact-tracing tools into smartphones, providing data to public health agencies.

• Workplace monitoring: Verily developed “Healthy at Work,” an app for employers and universities to track symptoms, test results, and vaccination status.

• CDC contracts: Verily received a $38 million contract to support wastewater surveillance through the CDC.

• NIH and FDA partnerships: Verily joined major vaccine manufacturers within the Accelerating Medicines Partnership.

These initiatives supported the infrastructure favored by governments and global health bodies for population monitoring and vaccination compliance.

Google Still “Owns the Science”

Alphabet’s recent admissions to Congress framed pandemic-era censorship as a temporary aberration linked to pressure from the Biden administration. But Google’s censorship practices began long before COVID-19 and continue today.

The YouTube channels of many creators banned for accurate reporting — including Children’s Health Defense — remain suspended.

Pressure from the White House may have shaped the COVID-era rules, but it does not explain Google’s broader pattern. Alphabet’s partnerships and financial entanglements across the pharmaceutical and biotech industries provide a more consistent explanation.

Google’s influence, infrastructure, and commercial incentives ensure that it continues to “own the science.” And with subsidiaries like Verily, Calico, Isomorphic Labs, and DeepMind, Alphabet’s reach into medicine and biotechnology is still expanding.

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