Biden clarifies that Facebook isn’t killing people, misinformation about the vaccine is
U.S. President Joe Biden doubled down on his calls for Facebook and other social media platforms to censor their users over “misinformation,” arguing that Facebook was responsible for “killing people” by allowing the spread of vaccine-related misinformation to spread on their platforms.
Speaking to the press on Monday, Biden was asked to clarify his remarks last week about how platforms like Facebook were “killing people.”
“I mean precisely what I said, I’m glad you asked me that question,” replied Biden, who insists that Facebook is responsible for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.
"One, I had just read that it was pointed out that Facebook, of all the misinformation, 60 percent of the misinformation came from 12 individuals,” said Biden. “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 12 people are out there giving misinformation. Anyone listening to it is getting hurt by it. It's killing people. It's bad information.”
President Biden clarifies his statement about Facebook: "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." pic.twitter.com/GXfZOHxWKl
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 19, 2021
"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,” he added. “That's what I meant."
Asked if Facebook has done enough to stop the spread of misinformation Biden alleges is killing people, the president said he did not have any answer to that question.
"I haven't, to be completely honest with you, I don't know if they did anything today, up to over the weekend I don't think they had, but I don't know, I don't know the answer to that question," Biden said.
Asked if he would hold Facebook accountable, Biden said that he isn’t trying to hold anyone accountable.
“When you say hold accountable, I just wanna… I'm not trying to hold people accountable, I'm trying to make people look at themselves, look in the mirror,” he said. “Think about that misinformation going to your son, your daughter, your relative, someone you love, that's what I'm asking.”
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