White House Pressures Facebook: Misinformation Slows Vaccine Rollout

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Yujin] The White House in the United States pressured social media companies such as Facebook, stating that they are not doing enough to prevent the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki directly mentioned Facebook, the social media company that owns Instagram and WhatsApp, during a regular briefing on the 15th (local time). She said that Facebook is not taking sufficient measures to stop the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines and pointed out that more efforts are needed to eliminate inaccurate information.

She also cited a study by the nonprofit organization "Digital Hate Response Center," which found that about 65% of the vaccine-related misinformation circulating on social media was produced by 12 anti-vaccine activists, saying, "They are all still active on Facebook," and added, "Facebook needs to move faster to remove harmful posts."

In this regard, there are also some speculations that the Biden administration might regulate business operators regarding content on social media. When asked whether President Joe Biden plans to discuss this issue with Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, Press Secretary Psaki replied, "Not that I know of."

Vivek Murthy, head of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and a member of the COVID-19 advisory panel, also pointed out that rapidly spreading misinformation on social media is a factor slowing down the COVID-19 vaccination rate.

Murthy criticized, "The structure where social media companies are not held responsible for false content distributed on their platforms has created an environment where COVID-19 misinformation spreads," adding, "They are deliberately allowing those who spread misinformation."

He further noted, "The algorithm that encourages us to 'like' and share emotional content rather than accurate content is drawing us into even more misinformation."

He continued, "The speed and scale of misinformation spread have greatly increased due to the platforms," and urged aggressive action, saying, "I know social media companies have taken some measures, but they need to do much more."

Under current law (Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act), platform operators like Facebook are not legally responsible for content posted by users.

Earlier, Facebook and its affiliate Instagram have been attaching warning labels to posts judged to contain misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccines since early this year.

The purpose is to restrict posts discussing the safety of COVID-19 vaccines still in the pre-approval safety and efficacy testing phase and to prevent the spread of misinformation that incites refusal of vaccination.

However, these measures have been criticized as insufficient and delayed, failing to adequately address false claims and incitement related to vaccine refusal, with calls for stronger actions to remove misinformation.