NIH Hid Public Comments Package — page 46

public view, and were only visible to and his Facebook friends. A copy of comments is attached hereto as Exhibit [X]. 76. On April 29, 2021, posted substantially the same comment he wrote on April 24, 2021 to an NIH Instagram post about treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections. He commented, "The Wisconsin NPRC is a disgrace. I personally know 2 former employees who were traumatized by their experience as primate caretakers. There is no humane way to keep 1,650 primates in small steel cages for decades without inflicting massive psychological damage. On top of that, the University of Wisconsin has banned any keywords regarding primate testing on their social media pages, meaning any discourse on social media is automatically silenced. They also delete the testimonials of former employees. Why go to all that trouble to silence their own alumni if everything is above-board? We need to reinvest in human-relevant, modern research instead of this barbaric and archaic practice, which does not yield cures to our most deadly diseases!" This comment, which contains a word on NIH's Instagram keyword filter list ("testing"), was also hidden. A copy of comments is attached hereto as Exhibit [X]. 77. To confirm that the NIH was filtering comments with certain keywords from being viewed publicly by users, filed Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") requests with the NIH on April 24, 2021, seeking "a screenshot of all keywords that are blocked" on the NIH's Facebook page and the NIH's Instagram account. On April 29, 2021, received the records responsive to his FOIA request. 78. has occasionally advocated for animal rights in comments by modifying the spelling and spacing of certain words. For example, on June 17, 2021, commented on an NIH Facebook post, "it's ironic that this Facebook page is full of spam and porn links, but the admin only uses keyword blocking to hide comments about testing on a n i m a l s."