Biden: Facebook and completely different platforms are ‘killing folks’ with vaccine misinformation

Joe Biden stated that Facebook and completely different social media platforms are “killing folks” by allowing misinformation about COVID-19 to unfold on their platforms.

Biden’s comments came in accordance to a reporter who asked the president what his message to “platforms love Facebook” modified into as soon as relating to misinformation about COVID-19. “They’re killing folks,” Biden stated. “I point out they’re truly — look, the preferrred pandemic we bear now is amongst the unvaccinated. And they’re killing folks.”

His remarks, sooner or later after the Surgeon typical issued an uncommon health advisory on the dangers of vaccine misinformation, comes amid mounting rigidity for Facebook and completely different platforms to cease more to handle misinformation about the coronavirus vaccines. But Facebook has attain underneath particular scrutiny attributable to its dimension, and spotty historical past with countering vaccine falsehoods.

A broadly cited reported from the Heart for Countering Digital Detest chanced on that grand of the vaccine misinformation that spreads on-line will also be linked to precise 12 people — a bunch of whom dwell active on Facebook no topic the firm’s attempts to crack down on vaccine misinformation in contemporary months. Facebook didn’t straight acknowledge to a ask for commentary.

Change 7/16/2021 5: 17pm ET: A Facebook spokesperson replied with this assertion: “We may furthermore not be distracted by accusations which aren’t supported by the info. Truly that more than 2 billion folks bear viewed authoritative info about COVID-19 and vaccines on Facebook, which is more than any completely different situation on the procure. More than 3.3 million Americans bear also broken-down our vaccine finder design to search out out where and the precise technique to rating a vaccine. The info point out that Facebook helps keep lives. Length.”