President Joe Biden said Friday that the current coronavirus pandemic “is among the unvaccinated” and said misinformation spread on Facebook is “killing people.”
Biden briefly spoke to reporters as he left the White House and was asked by NBC News’ Peter Alexander what the president’s message to platforms like Facebook is regarding COVID-19 misinformation.
“They’re killing people,” Biden exclaimed. “I mean, they’re really – Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people.” (RELATED: REPORT: The DNC Wants Phone Companies To Police Text Messages For Vaccine Misinformation)
WATCH:
REPORTER: “What’s your message to platforms like Facebook?”
BIDEN: “They’re killing people. The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and they’re killing people.”
pic.twitter.com/HDlr8cKyDw— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 16, 2021
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday that the administration is working with Facebook to flag “disinformation” regarding the coronavirus. The comments sparked backlash, with some critics like journalist Glenn Greenwald suggesting the move amounted to “authoritarianism.”
The press secretary defended the move Friday, telling reporters that an individual banned from one social media platform should be banned from all other platforms if accused of spreading misinformation.
“Our biggest concern here – and I frankly think it should be your biggest concern – is the number of people who are dying around the country because they’re getting misinformation that is leading them to not take a vaccine. Young people, old people, kids, children, a lot of them are being impacted by misinformation,” Psaki said.
WATCH:
DOOCY: “Facebook used to block people from posting that covid may have originated from a lab… Is there any concern things you are trying to block may some day turn out to be accurate?”@PressSec: “We don’t take anything down. We don’t block anything.” pic.twitter.com/EmGqS44F2G
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 16, 2021
“We don’t take anything down,” Psaki said when asked if there’s concern something may be blocked that ends up being accurate. “We don’t block anything. Facebook and any private sector company makes decisions about what information should be on their platform. Our point is that there is information that is leading people to not take the vaccine and people are dying as a result.”
Social media platforms have censored legitimate stories in the past, like the COVID-19 lab leak theory and the Hunter Biden laptop story, on the basis of disinformation and misinformation allegations. The press secretary didn’t directly answer whether the administration is concerned about flagging “misinformation” that may turn out to be true.