President Biden attempted to clarify the claim that “misinformation” on Facebook and other social media sites is “killing people,” now stating just “twelve people” mainly were responsible for “misinformation.”
In response to CNN’s Kaitlin Connlins question, Biden said.
One, I had just read that on the Facebook — Facebook pointed out, it was pointed out that Facebook of all the misinformation, sixty percent of the misinformation came from twelve individuals. That’s what the article said.
So I was asked that question about, what do I think is happening? Facebook isn’t killing people; these twelve people are out there, giving misinformation. Anyone listening to it is getting hurt by it. It’s killing people. It’s bad information, My hope is that Facebook, instead of taking it personally, that somehow I’m saying Facebook is killing people, that they would do something about the misinformation, the outrageous misinformation about the vaccine.
Biden refers to a National Public Radio story from May, “Just 12 People Are Behind Most Vaccine Hoaxes On Social Media, Research Shows.” The twelve were identified as the “Disinformation Dozen” by a non-profit called the “Center for Countering Digital Hate.” They include Robert F. Kennedy Jr., among others who are known for their general anti-vaccine opinions.
Facebook had already taken most of those accounts down in May, NPR reported.
It is unclear what “misinformation” the Biden administration is blaming for the hesitancy; perhaps it applies to Biden’s past statements or policies, as Biden told people not to trust a vaccine that Trump had developed or the suspension of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine over the small number of blood cutting cases.
