This comparison is verging on hyperbole. I can't recall any soda ad that implied any health claims or encouraged drinking in excess. There's nothing unhealthy about sugar in moderation. What danger that exists is only expressed after years of heavy abuse. Even then, we have treatments for diabetes and heart disease. Unhealthy diets are not communicable diseases! Soda isn't forcing doctors to use garbage bags as PPE or fashion ventilators out of surplus hardware. Soda isn't cutting down young athletes after a single exposure. If there is to be any censorship or just fact-checking alongside misinformation, it's clear which occasion deserves it.
I am not claiming that Covid and sugar are the same. They are different.
But sugar is bad for you. Ads for sugar aren’t intended to convince people to drink it in moderation. Just like ads for cigarettes aren’t intended to make people smoke one per day.
My point is that if we wanted to limit misinformation that causes harm, limiting ads for coke that result in sugar consumption that contributes to diabetes deaths. Lots and lots. Hopefully Covid won’t keep causing hundreds of thousands of deaths per year (1.1M so far in 3.5 years) but diabetes is just getting worse.
Obviously government can do both and doesn’t have to choose. But it seems like limiting free speech for a minor benefit isn’t worth it when there’s a much clearer line to take. Preventing drug advertising is pretty simple and was already illegal until 1998.
