An anonymous Facebook executive lashed out at President Joe Biden’s administration for allegedly using the platform as a scapegoat after not achieving their stated vaccine goals.
“The White House is looking for scapegoats for missing their vaccine goals,” an anonymous executive told NBC News on Friday, after Biden had accused Facebook of allegedly not doing enough to censor vaccine “misinformation.”
“They’re killing people,” Biden said of the big tech company Friday. “The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Thursday that the Biden administration is working with Facebook to identify posts regarding vaccines that it deems “misinformation.”
“Information that’s inaccurate we consider misinformation, says @PressSec in response to @pwidakuswara question on what is the administration’s position on #ivermectin as a #COVID19 treatment. pic.twitter.com/ps4lJehDMd
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) July 16, 2021
The admission of interference by the administration regarding censorship and “misinformation” has led to claims of First Amendment violations, as well as a pattern of contradictions from health officials — including Psaki — regarding information throughout the pandemic. (RELATED: White House Is Working With Facebook To Flag ‘Disinformation,’ Psaki Says)
“We are in regular touch with the social media platforms and those engagements typically happen through members of our senior staff and also members of our COVID-19 team — given as Dr. Murthy conveyed, this is a big issue, of misinformation, specifically on the pandemic,” Psaki reportedly said.
President Biden says platforms like Facebook are “killing people” with Covid misinformation https://t.co/iNh23VXN9o
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 17, 2021
Despite the public statements from Biden regarding Facebook’s censorship efforts, the anonymous source alleged that the administration takes a different tone in private communication.
“In private exchanges the Surgeon General has praised our work, including our efforts to inform people about COVID-19,” the anonymous source alleged to NBC News. “They knew what they were doing.”
