Facebook, Twitter need to do more to stop COVID-19 Anti-Vaxxers: US States
General lawyers for 12 U.S. states on Wednesday accused Facebook and Twitter of doing too little to stop people from using their platforms to spread false information that coronavirus vaccines are dangerous .
In a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, senior Democrat attorneys said “anti-vaxxers” have no medical knowledge and are often motivated by financial gain on the highs. use pavements to reduce the risk of COVID-19 and increase the risks of vaccines.
They called on both companies to implement their own community guidelines by removing or identifying incorrect information.
The letter said that anti-vaxxers control 65 percent of anti-vaccination public content on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and that they have more than 59 million followers on these platforms and Google YouTube.
They also said that some misinformation is targeting Blacks and other color communities where vaccine levels are declining.
“Because your platforms are trusted against vaxxers, you are in a unique position to prevent misinformation about coronavirus vaccines that pose a direct threat to the health and safety of millions of Americans in the United States. our states and will contribute to our path to overcoming it, “the letter said.
Facebook spokeswoman Dani Lever said the company had removed millions of COVID-19 pieces and false vaccine information, and was trying to combat “vaccine hesitancy” by directing carriers. regular use of reliable information from health authorities.
Twitter said it has removed more than 22,400 tweets in connection with its policy toward COVID-19 posts, prioritizing the removal of potentially harmful content “The real world”.
Wednesday’s letter was signed by senior lawyers in Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
Zuckerman, Dorsey, and Sundar Pichai, Google Alphabet ‘s top parenting officer, are expected to testify Thursday before two sub – committees of the House of Representatives on combating online defamation.
The pandemic of coronavirus has injured more than 124 million people worldwide, and caused more than 2.7 million deaths.
© Thomson Reuters 2021
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