Biden Administration, Others Tighten Focus On Facebook In Battle Against Vaccine Disinformation
Biden Administration, Others Tighten Focus On Facebook In Battle Against Vaccine Disinformation
President Biden on COVID misinformation: Facebook is ‘killing people’
The focus has sharpened on Facebook in the battle against the spread of disinformation about COVID-19 and the available vaccines to prevent infection.
The Biden administration this week began, much more directly, taking on misinformation — and outright disinformation — which is causing many Americans to spurn vaccination and in turn create pockets where COVID-19 cases continue to run high.
This has led to a critical look at the social media giant as a common purveyor of baseless accusations and falsehoods related to vaccination.
Asked by a reporter outside of the White House specifically about the role of Facebook and any other providers like it, President Biden responded, “They are killing people. I mean, look, the only pandemic we have is among unvaccinated. And they're killing people.”
Facebook officials defended itself by saying that the company has removed 18 million pieces of COVID misinformation, and connected more than 2 billion people to reliable information.
“Additional steps that should be taken”
That's not sufficient, however, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
“Clearly not, because we're talking about additional steps that should be taken, and frankly, information that media organizations could decide whether you're going to report on or not. I'm not talking just about the misinformation storyline, I'm talking about these individuals, I'm talking about how prevalent the spreading of this information is. The public has a right to know,” Psaki said. “That's the point that we're making, and we're dealing with a life-or-death issue here. And so, everybody has a role to play in making sure there is accurate information. Obviously, those are steps they have taken.
“They are a private sector company, they're going to make decisions about additional steps they can take. It's clear there are more that can be taken,” she added. “And actually, just on the foreign government piece, because I think that's an important point — important, interesting question. The State Department's Global Engagement Center has found that Russia and China have promoted their own vaccines through messaging that undermines Western-origin vaccines and health development programs.”
Those responsible for spreading misinformation and disinformation should be banned from multiple platforms — not just one, Psaki said.
“You shouldn't be banned from one platform and not others for providing misinformation out there ... As you all know, information travels quite quickly. If it's up there for days and days and days, when people see it, you know there's -- it's hard to put that back in a box,” Psaki said. “And of course promoting algorithms. I don't know how they work but they all do know how they work. So, those are some of the steps that we think could be constructive for public health, for public information, for the right of the public to know.”
What's important is for Facebook to find a “middle ground” in which respect for free speech is respected along with “other human rights,” according to Helle Thorning-Schmidt, a former prime minister of Denmark and member of Facebook's Oversight Board, an independent advisory group created by the company as sort of an ombudsman.
"And what we're trying to find, of course, I think many of us, when engaging in this conversation, is that middle road. How do you moderate content and how do you find that balance between, human rights — free speech versus human rights, but also other human rights, because obviously free speech is not an absolute human right, it has to be balanced with all the human rights,” Thorning-Schmidt said. “And that is what the Oversight [Board] is there to do. Until now we have seen content moderation, as I've said, from a select few in in Silicon Valley and ultimately Mark Zuckerberg, who's been moderating content.
“Now we have the Oversight Board, which is a completely new invention, to do this work. And of course, I want to say this is a very, very positive new way of doing it,” she added.
Facebook has “blood on their hands”
Donny Deutsch, a marketing executive and TV personality, specifically called out two Facebook executives, however, in very harsh terms, saying that it's up to Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, specifically to do more.
“They have blood on their hands. I want to say it again. Specifically, call out two people. Mark Zuckerberg, Cheryl Sandberg, you run the company,” Deutsch said Friday in an interview with Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC's Morning Joe. “If I ran that company, if I was Mark Zuckerberg and I’m worth $100 billion, I don’t know, I might go into my pocket a little bit if I can save some lives. Shame on you.”
Brzezinski agreed with her guest, citing past troubles Facebook has found itself in disseminating disinformation — such as during the 2016 presidential election — and always pleading for patience.
“I stand with you on that, Donny. Mark Zuckerberg and Cheryl Sandberg, they have been saying for a decade, 'We’re going to get better. We’re going to fix this.' They call us and do behind-the-scenes phone calls saying, 'Don’t worry, don't worry, we’re going to get better. It’s all going to be okay.' No. It’s not okay,” Brzezinski said. “Look at our country and look at the disinformation spewing through Facebook and what it has done. It has warped the minds of Americans who eat this stuff up as news. And you’re not news. You’re Facebook, with blood on your hands."
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