Regulatory Twitter Goes '#Rogue' With AltFDA

Underground Twitter feed for FDA starts out slow compared to fellow agencies.

Like many federal agencies, FDA also has an underground Twitter account attempting to keep its social media presence alive despite an apparent Trump administration-imposed gag order. But ultimately it may not have much to say even if it is growing in popularity.

The phenomenon of the rogue, anonymous Twitter accounts emerged following reports that the White House asked federal agencies to stop tweeting in the wake of several posts that were seen as critical of the President. Like many aspects of the administrative transition, the incident has been contentious, and whether the directive was simply an effort to pause communication until new leadership could establish its own procedures or an effort to censure scientists and distort information remains hotly disputed.

The agency’s underground page, AltFDA, describing itself as "uncensored FDA," has not tweeted much since its first post on Jan. 25. A total of nine tweets had been posted by late afternoon Jan. 26, hardly the size of some of the others – Alt HHS had 32 tweets and Alternative CDC had 39 tweets posted at the same time.

But AltFDA had amassed the most followers, 73,100, compared to the others. Alt HHS boasted 68,600 and Alternative CDC had 54,000 by late afternoon that day.

The underground FDA tweeters may find it difficult to make drug information tweet-worthy. It frankly can be boring to those not involved in the industry. There may not be the same interest or appeal of government officials reminding the administration of the importance of investing in science and research as there was to a National Park posting about climate change.

Still, those running FDA's underground account have managed to cultivate a somewhat salty tone. The headline image on the page includes a large "#Rogue" signaling its defiance with the administration.

Its second post, dated Jan. 25, said "2 days without a post on our main social accounts. We would like to bring you great news about food & drugs but…"

The rogue FDA feed was updated the morning of Jan. 26 with "Good morning everyone, we hope this account will be quiet as we wait 2 see what the POTUS does next. Maybe another executive order, maybe 5."

Indeed Trump has issued a number of orders in his first few days in office, the most significant to FDA being the federal hiring freeze. (Also see "A Burning FDA Hiring Freeze Question: What About User Fee-Supported Staff?" - Pink Sheet, 24 Jan, 2017.)

The tweeter or tweeters posted later in the day that "what would really help us is if ppl took the time to learn & understand basic science," which could be seen as a swipe at Trump and his skepticism about vaccine safety, as well as climate change. (Also see "‘He Is Very Pro-Vaccine’: Trump Mulls RFK Jr. To Chair Commission On Safety" - Pink Sheet, 10 Jan, 2017.)

Trump also is considering a number of candidates for FDA commissioner that would prefer the agency relax is evidentiary standards for drug approval. The most recent name to emerge, Joseph Gulfo, wants various tiers of approval based on the type of evidence gathered. (Also see "FDA Commissioner Candidate Gulfo Hates Breakthrough, Wants To Reevaluate User Fees" - Pink Sheet, 26 Jan, 2017.)

Remember FDA's Twitter Guidance?

In the midst of all the rogue tweeting, it would be difficult not to recognize the irony of the situation as it relates to the FDA's long history with pharma industry social media practice.

Some may argue FDA has done the same thing to industry with its social media rules just as the Trump administration has muzzled government social media accounts.

The agency spent years developing guidance on social media practices, including suggestions for promoting drugs on social media sites like Twitter. (Also see "FDA’s Twitter Formula Allows Tweets About Products Without Excessive Risks" - Pink Sheet, 17 Jun, 2014.)

All the while, the agency used its own official agency accounts, sometimes to announce drug approvals – and then had to change its own internal Twitter policy to match its guidance for industry once it was released. (Also see "FDA Changes Own Tweets To Match Industry Guidance" - Pink Sheet, 22 Sep, 2014.)

Would AltFDA's tweet of a link to a Huffington Post story outlining the White House denying that it imposed a social media gag order be considered a link to a proper landing page and in fact a truthful and non-misleading post?

We don't know, but we don't expect the Office of Prescription Drug Promotion to be looking to enforcement action either.