Facebook responded, on Saturday, to U.S President Joe Biden's claims that the platform spreads misinformation about the covid-19 vaccines.
As Biden left for Camp David on Friday, NBC News’ Peter Alexander asked him, “On the topic of disinformation, what’s your message to platforms like Facebook?”
“They’re killing people,” Biden replied. “Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and they’re killing people.”
Consequently, Facebook has defended its actions to root out disinformation on their platform, but the White House has called for the company to take greater steps.
In response to Biden’s comment, Facebook spokesperson Dani Lever said in a statement, “We will not be distracted by accusations which aren’t supported by the facts."
"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," Lever added.
"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.”
On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that they have had discussions with Facebook and are flagging problematic posts that spread disinformation.
Moreover, Psaki noted that they have proposed a “robust enforcement strategy that bridges their properties and provides transparency about the rules.”
“There’s about 12 people who are producing 65 percent of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms,” she stated. “All of them remain active on Facebook, despite some even being banned on other platforms, including Facebook — ones that Facebook owns.”
At the White House press briefing on Friday, she continued the criticism of social media platforms and called for greater transparency. The press secretary suggested that “you shouldn’t be banned from one platform and not others for providing misinformation out there.”
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