July 18, 2021
The 'COVID Misinformation' Train Wreck
By
Michael Applebaum, MD
One cannot avert one’s eyes from witnessing a catastrophe, e.g., a train wreck, or so it is popularly said. But train wrecks cease being entertaining when you are on the train.
But for the fact that we are on the Government-Big Tech train wreck, it would be popcorn time.
White House officials are notifying
Facebook about posts that allegedly spread COVID-19 misinformation as part of efforts by President
Joe Biden's administration to combat what U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy described as "an imminent and insidious threat to our nation's health."
Murthy and White House Press Secretary
Jen Psaki discussed their efforts as part of a "new campaign" to fight virus-related misinformation. An advisory recently published by Murthy's office details steps that tech outlets, private citizens, local governments, and media outlets can take to battle misinformation when they come across it.
Psaki said part of the Biden administration's new campaign involves asking social media companies to be more active in combatting misinformation and to share the results of their efforts publicly.
"We are in regular touch with these social media platforms, and those engagements typically happen through members of our senior staff, but also members of our COVID-19 team," Psaki said.
She mentioned Facebook specifically as a platform with which officials have been in frequent contact.
"We've increased disinformation research and tracking within the surgeon general's office," Psaki said. "We're flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation. We're working with doctors and medical professionals to connect medical experts who are popular with our audiences with accurate information and boost trusted content -- so we are helping get trusted content out there."
Psaki added that an estimated 12 individuals are responsible for about 65 percent of all anti-vaccine misinformation on social media. Though some of those individuals are blocked on some social media platforms, she said they are not blocked on Facebook.
"All of them remain active on Facebook, despite some even being banned on other platforms -- including ones that Facebook owns," she said.
When contacted for comment, a Facebook official told
Newsweek the company is taking action to combat COVID-19 misinformation and has thus far removed more than 18 million pieces of misinformation-related content. Some accounts that frequently shared content including misinformation have been banned, the official added.
Of course, this raises lots of questions.