President Joe Biden on Friday stated platforms like Facebook are eliminating individuals by enabling Covid-19 vaccine false information on their services.
Asked what his message was to platforms like Facebook relating to Covid disinformation, Biden stated “They’re killing people.”
“I mean they really, look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and that’s — they’re killing people,” Biden stated on the South Lawn of the White House.
Biden was echoing earlier remarks from White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
“We’re dealing with a life or death issue here and so everybody has a role to play in making sure there’s accurate information,” Psaki stated. “They’re a private sector company. They’re going to make decisions about additional steps they can take. It’s clear there are more that can be taken.”
Psaki’s remarks come one day after she stated the Biden administration was flagging troublesome posts for Facebook that spread out false information.
“We are regularly making sure social media platforms are aware of the latest narratives dangerous to public health that we and many other Americans are seeing across all of social and traditional media,” she stated. “We work to engage with them to better understand the enforcement of social media platform policy.”
One example Psaki highlighted is the spread of an incorrect story that states coronavirus vaccines trigger infertility.
“This is troubling but a persistent narrative that we and many have seen, and we want to know that the social media platforms are taking steps to address it,” Psaki stated. “That is inaccurate, false information.”
Psaki kept in mind extra actions Facebook and other social networks services can require to fight false information. This consists of openly sharing the effect of false information on their services, promoting quality details, and taking quicker action versus hazardous posts.
“As you all know, information travels quite quickly,” she stated. “If it’s up there for days and days and days, when people see it — it’s hard to put that back in a box.”
Facebook spoke up versus the claims made by the White House.
“We will not be distracted by accusations which aren’t supported by the facts,” a representative stated. “The fact is that more than 2 billion people have viewed authoritative information about COVID-19 and vaccines on Facebook, which is more than any other place on the internet. More than 3.3 million Americans have also used our vaccine finder tool to find out where and how to get a vaccine. The facts show that Facebook is helping save lives. Period.”
