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Sayer Ji

Questions · The record

Criticism of Sayer Ji: the articles, and what has changed since

Short answer

Sayer Ji has been criticized by fact-checkers, a university science office, an advocacy group and several news outlets, most of it in 2020 and 2021 around COVID-19 vaccines. Much of that coverage repeated one 2021 report, which Facebook disputed the same year. Since then The Guardian, The Independent and Forbes have added notes to their articles, YouTube has reinstated his channels, and in January 2026 the White House and HHS quoted him on federal nutrition policy. The criticism is listed below in full, with links, so readers can judge it for themselves.

The critical coverage

In date order. Each link opens the original.

A study Ji cited in 2021 was retracted by Toxicology Reports in May 2022 (retraction notice). For a fuller account of each item, see the controversy, examined.

What has changed since

The direction of the record since 2021:

  1. Aug. 2021

    Facebook publicly disputes the CCDH report: “There isn’t any evidence to support this claim” (Meta).

  2. Aug. 2023

    The House Judiciary Committee subpoenas CCDH for its communications with the federal government (House Judiciary Committee).

  3. Aug. 2024

    The Independent and Forbes add updates noting Meta’s dispute (The Independent; Forbes). McGill’s Office for Science and Society pins a note on its 2022 video about the report.

  4. Sep. 2024

    The Guardian adds a note on Facebook’s response disputing the study’s methodology and findings (The Guardian).

  5. Sep. 2025

    Alphabet tells Congress that Biden administration officials pressed it to remove COVID-19 content “that did not violate company policies” (Spectrum News).

  6. Oct. 2025

    YouTube reinstates his channels (his account).

  7. Oct. 2025

    He speaks at the launch of Make Europe Healthy Again at the European Parliament (Health Policy Watch). Politico reports that he now advises MAHA Action (Politico).

  8. Dec. 2025

    The State Department imposes visa restrictions on five people it says led efforts to pressure U.S. platforms; CNN reports CCDH’s chief executive is among them (CNN).

  9. Jan. 2026

    The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services both quote him by name in their releases on the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans (White House; HHS).

His response, in brief

Most of it traces to one report. Much of the coverage after March 2021 repeated the Disinformation Dozen figures. Facebook disputed them within five months, and outlets that published them have begun saying so.

He is not a doctor and has never claimed to be. GreenMedInfo is an index. It links each study to its original record so readers can check the research themselves rather than take anyone’s word for it, including his.

Disagreement is not disinformation. Questioning public-health policy is a debate, and he has always made his case in public, with sources. Where a source he relied on fails, he says so on his corrections page.

Read both sides. Every critical article is linked above. So is the evidence that followed. Readers can weigh them directly.

Sources

Facts on this page are dated and linked to their sources. Errors are corrected and logged on the corrections page. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.