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WASHINGTON — President Biden exposed growing frustration on social media when he said on Friday that platforms like Facebook are “killing people” by allowing disinformation about the coronavirus vaccine to spread online.
Mr. Biden’s strong statement limited weeks of complaints in the White House about the spread of vaccine disinformation online, even as the pace of vaccines slowed and health officials warned of the growing danger of the Delta variant.
Just before boarding Marine One for a weekend at Camp David, Md., Mr. Biden was asked what his message to social media platforms is when it comes to Covid-19 disinformation.
“They are killing people,” Mr. Biden said. “Look, the only epidemic we have is among the unvaccinated and that’s it – and they’re killing people.”
Mr. Biden spoke a day after the United States surgeon general used his first official recommendation. criticizing tech and social media companies for stopping dangerous health information poses an “immediate threat to public health”.
The Biden administration has warned of the spread of misinformation about vaccines and coronavirus from a number of sources, including politicians and news outlets. But this week, White House officials went even further, choosing social media companies for allowing false information to spread. According to a person familiar with the matter, this comes after weeks of unsuccessful attempts by Facebook to hand over information detailing what mechanisms exist to combat vaccine misinformation.
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