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WASHINGTON – Facebook and the Biden administration engaged in an increasingly resentful back-and-forth over the weekend after the administration denounced the social media giant for spreading vaccine misinformation Covid-19.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Sunday reiterated warnings that false stories about vaccines had become a health hazard. “These platforms need to recognize that they have played a major role in increasing the speed and scale with which disinformation spreads,” Murthy said Sunday on CNN.
In a blog post published on Saturday, Facebook called on the administration to stop “pointing fingers” and explained what it has done to encourage users to get vaccinated. The social network also detailed how it cracked down on lies about vaccines, which officials say led people to refuse to be vaccinated.
“The Biden administration has chosen to blame a handful of US social media companies,” Guy Rosen, Facebook’s vice president of integrity, said in the post. “The point is, the acceptance of vaccines among Facebook users in the United States has increased.”
Mr Rosen added that the company’s data showed that 85% of its users in the United States had been or wanted to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. While President Biden set a goal of vaccinating 70% of Americans by July 4, which the White House failed to achieve, “Facebook is not the reason that goal was missed, ”Mr. Rosen said.
Facebook’s response follows a strong condemnation of the company by Mr. Biden. Asked on Friday about the role of social media in influencing vaccinations, Mr Biden said in unusually loud language that platforms are “killing people.”
“Listen,” he added, “the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and that – and they’re killing people. “
Other White House officials have also increasingly voiced how social media has amplified lies about vaccines.
On Thursday, Mr Murthy accused social media companies of not doing enough to stop the spread of dangerous false health information, calling it a national health crisis that had fostered reluctance to vaccinate among Americans. On Friday, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, also denounced the misinformation “which leads people not to take the vaccine, and people die of it”. She said the White House has a responsibility to raise the issue.
The White House declined to comment on the Facebook blog post on Saturday.
On Sunday morning, Mr Murthy also responded to accusations from a Facebook official who spoke anonymously to CNN, saying the administration “was looking for scapegoats for missing its vaccine targets.”
The company official told CNN before Mr. Murthy’s appearance on the news network that in private conversations, Mr. Murthy “praised our work” while publicly criticizing the company.
Mr. Murthy refuted the characterization.
“I’ve been very consistent in what I’ve said to tech companies,” Murthy told CNN Sunday morning. “When we see steps that are good, we have to recognize them,” he said, adding, “But what I also said is that it’s not enough. We continue to see a proliferation of disinformation online. “
Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites have long struggled with their role as speech platforms while protecting their users from disinformation campaigns, like Russian efforts to influence presidential elections or false claims about the pandemic.
In recent months, Facebook has taken action against anti-vaccination ads and vaccine misrepresentation. In October, he said he would no longer allow anti-vaccination ads on his platform. In February, the company went further and said it would remove posts with false vaccine claims, including claims that vaccines cause autism or that it is safer for people to contract. the coronavirus than to receive the vaccines.
But online misinformation about vaccines has not been stamped out. Lies have spread that vaccines can alter DNA or that vaccines don’t work.
Mr Rosen said in a blog post on Saturday that among US Facebook users, vaccine reluctance has declined by 50% since April and vaccine acceptance has increased by 10 to 15 points. percentage, or from 70% to more than 80%.
“While social media plays an important role in society, it is clear that we need a holistic societal approach to end this pandemic,” Mr. Rosen said. “And the facts – not the allegations – should help inform this effort. “
The White House’s frustration with Facebook has grown over the months, people familiar with the matter said. While the Biden administration asked Facebook to share information about the spread of disinformation on the social network, the company refused to cooperate, people said.
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Brian Boland, Facebook’s former vice president for partnership strategy, argued when at the company that she should publicly share as much information as possible about what is happening on her platform. . Asked Sunday about the dispute with the White House over CNN’s “Trusted Sources” program, he said: “Facebook has this data,” adding, “They’re looking at it.” But, he asked, “Are they looking at him the right way?” Are they investing in teams as fully as they should?
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