President Biden on Friday said that social media companies that allow coronavirus misinformation to spread on their platforms are “killing people,” escalating a fight with Facebook and other companies as the White House warns about the spread of inaccurate information about COVID-19 vaccines.
Biden was asked by reporters at the White House Friday afternoon what his message is to social media platforms on coronavirus misinformation.
“They’re killing people. The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people,” Biden said.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on Thursday labeling health misinformation an “urgent threat” amid the Biden administration’s push to get more people vaccinated. Murthy said that misinformation is among a range of reasons why some Americans are not getting vaccinated against COVID-19 despite vaccinations being widely available.
“Modern technology companies have enabled misinformation to poison our information environment with little accountability to their users,” Murthy said during an appearance in the White House briefing room on Thursday. “They’ve allowed people who intentionally spread misinformation — what we call ‘disinformation’ — to have extraordinary reach.”
The White House is asking Facebook and other social media companies to be more aggressive in removing “harmful” posts that spread disinformation and his flagging posts that spread information, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
“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 and we work to engage with them to better understand the enforcement of social media platform policies,” Psaki told reporters on Friday.
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JUST IN: Biden: Social media platforms that spread coronavirus misinformation "are killing people" https://t.co/61O9bkFg4k pic.twitter.com/gm1kvSztOC
— The Hill (@thehill) July 16, 2021
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) July 16, 2021
It’s not just the fault of big social media outlets. It’s people who believe everything they see, read and hear and don’t look at other sources. I’d say we need to improve education, but many who read and accept as gospel the garbage on the internet are actually well educated, or are supposed to be. Many only consume media with viewpoints and agendas that agree with their own. They will not consider any alternative.
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