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President Biden’s surgeon general wants Big Tech companies to report on how prevalent COVID-19 misinformation is on social networks, search engines, messaging systems and e-commerce sites, and who is consuming it.
Dr. Vivek Murthy’s effort is a continuation of the White House’s grumblings about fake online information blocking the vaccine initiative, but it’s likely to spark outcries that the administration is either overdoing it or trying to cut back on unproven COVID-19 treatments that are gaining traction in some quarters. .
As The New York Times reported Thursday, Dr. Murthy gave companies until May 2 to submit data on “how many users may have seen or may have been exposed to instances of Covid-19 misinformation” and which demographics may have been exposed. .
Speaking to The Times, Dr. “Tech companies now have the opportunity to be open and transparent with the American public about misinformation on their platforms,” Murthy said. “This is about protecting the health of the nation.”
Dr. Murthy has been warning of the harms of bad COVID-19 information online for months. This is the first request for real data, but there doesn’t seem to be a penalty for non-compliance.
This effort is part of Mr Biden’s new strategy to manage the virus as something that causes minimal disruption to society.
The general surgeon also wants doctors and healthcare providers to report trends in how COVID-19 misinformation is affecting patients.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
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