President Joe Biden’s Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy doubled down on the administration’s claims that Facebook and other social media outlets are driving vaccine skepticism, claiming on Fox News Sunday that social media sites are “aiding and abetting” the spread of misinformation.
“It’s not enough,” Murthy said of Facebook’s efforts to combat vaccine misinformation on its platform. “We are still, despite some of the actions that they have taken, seeing significant spread of misinformation.”
“There have been some positive steps taken by these technology companies. Some of them have worked to try to promote accurate sources like the CDC and other medical sources,” Murthy told Fox News Sunday, “but what I’ve also said to them, publicly and privately, is that it’s not enough. We are still seeing a proliferation of misinformation online.”
“And we know that health misinformation harms people’s health, it costs them their lives”, he continued, “and the platforms have to recognize that they’ve played a major role in the increase, speed, and scale with which misinformation is spreading.”
“And we know that health misinformation harms people’s health, it costs them their lives…and the platforms have to recognize that they’ve played a major role in the increase, speed, and scale with which misinformation is spreading,” Murthy concluded.
The Biden administration appears to be pressing social media sites, like Facebook, to acquiesce to White House demands to further police platforms for what the administration considers “misinformation.” Biden himself said, last week, that “they’re killing people,” in reference to social media, and Press Secretary Jen Psaki claimed that it is “clear there are more that can be taken.”
The White House also suggested that they are working with Facebook to police posts.
“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,” Psaki said, according to CNBC. “We work to engage with them to better understand the enforcement of social media platform policy.”
Facebook, however, pushed back aggressively on the White House’s suggestion that social media outlets are responsible for the spread of vaccine misinformation, blasting the Biden administration for seeking a “scapegoat” in their attempts to explain how they fell short of their 70% vaccination goal.
“We will not be distracted by accusations which aren’t supported by the facts,” a spokesperson for Facebook said in a statement Friday. “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.”
They also fired back at Murthy, specifically.
“In private exchanges, the Surgeon General has praised our work, including our efforts to inform people about COVID-19. They knew what they were doing,” Facebook said. “The White House is looking for scapegoats for missing their vaccine goals.”
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Source: Dailywire
