Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden said Facebook and other social media were killing people for letting the scam spread around the COVID-19 vaccine. Biden then explained and asked Facebook to address the spread of the scam on its platform.
Biden told reporters at the White House that his criticism was directed at dozens of people who spread a lot of misinformation on social media platforms, and not the company directly.
"Facebook doesn't kill people. These 12 people give wrong information out there," Biden was quoted as saying by Reuters on Tuesday (20/7/2021).
"Anyone who listens will be harmed by it. It kills people. This is bad information," he continued.
The 12 people Biden mentioned are influential figures who, according to a report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, are people who spread misinformation about vaccines on social media. These figures include Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Joseph Mercola, Sherri Tenpenny, Rizza Islam, and others.
At the same time, Biden hopes Facebook can do more to stop the spread of misinformation.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki also tried to clarify Biden's comments. “We’re not at war or at war with Facebook, we’re at war with viruses,” Psaki said.
Biden first criticized Facebook last Friday when asking for comments on social media. "They're killing people ... the pandemic we're having right now is on people who haven't been vaccinated, and they need people," Biden said.
Facebook immediately denied the allegations, saying that 85% of users have been vaccinated or want to be vaccinated. The company created by Mark Zuckerberg has also issued a number of policies on false claims regarding COVID-19 and provided accurate information.
"President Biden's goal is for 70% of Americans to be vaccinated by July 4. Facebook is not the reason this target is inaccurate," Facebook Integrity VP Guy Rosen said in a blog post.
Tags
CYBER LIFE
