The U.S. President’s comments came each day after US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared misinformation about The vaccines a threat to public health President Joe Biden has said that social media companies are “killing people” by failing to police misinformation on Their platforms about COVID-19 vaccines.
Mr. Biden’s comments came each day after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared misinformation about the Vaccines a threat to public health, and as US officials advised that deaths and high illness from the virus are almost Entirely preventable due to the vaccines.
Mr. Biden, asked if he had a message for platforms like Facebook where false or misleading information about the Coronavirus vaccines has spread, told reporters, “They’re killing people.” “The only pandemic we’ve is among the Unvaccinated,” he said.
Speaking on Thursday, Dr. Murthy said misinformation about COVID-19, deemed an “infodemic” by the planet Health Organization, was deadly.
“Misinformation poses an imminent and insidious threat to our nation’s health,” Dr. Murthy said during remarks at the White House. “We must confront misinformation as a nation. Lives are counting on it.” Given the role the web plays in Spreading health misinformation, Murthy said technology companies and social media platforms must make Meaningful changes to their products and software to scale back the spread of false information while increasing Access to authoritative, fact-based sources.
Too often, he said, the platforms are inbuilt ways in which encourage, not counter, the spread of misinformation.
“We are asking them to intensify ,” Dr. Murthy said. “We can’t wait longer for them to require aggressive action.” Facebook spokesperson Dani Lever responded: “We won’t be distracted by accusations which are not supported by Facts. the very fact is that quite 2 billion people have viewed authoritative information about COVID-19 and vaccines On Facebook, which is quite the other place on the web .” “More than 3.3 million Americans have also used our vaccine Finder tool to seek out out where and the way to urge a vaccine. The facts show that Facebook helps save lives. Period,” Lever said.
Twitter posted on its platform, “As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves round the world, we’ll still do our part to elevate Authoritative health information.