Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden Eases Pressure On Facebook Over Vaccine Misinformation
USA Today: Biden Softens "They're Killing People" Remark On Facebook Misinformation
President Joe Biden on Monday softened his criticism of Facebook, days after he said the platform is “killing people” because of vaccine misinformation the social media giant allows to circulate on its platform. During an unrelated event on the economy, Biden jumped at the chance to clarify his previous remark, shifting the blame from Facebook to a dozen people he said are circulating most of the misleading claims. “Facebook isn’t killing people,” Biden said in response to a reporter's question. “These 12 people who are out there giving misinformation – anyone listening to it is getting hurt by it.” (Groppe, 7/19)
The Hill: White House Looks To Cool Battle With Facebook
The White House on Monday sought to cool its heated confrontation with Facebook, which had festered over the weekend after President Biden accused the social media giant of “killing people” with misinformation about coronavirus vaccines. The unusual attack by Biden had triggered a tough response from Facebook, and on Monday the president and his aides were clearly looking to bring down the temperature. (Rodrigo and Samuels, 7/19)
The Wall Street Journal: Biden Seeks To Clarify Comments On Facebook, Vaccine Misinformation
White House press secretary Jen Psaki echoed Mr. Biden’s apparent effort to lessen tensions with Facebook. “We’re not in a war or a battle with Facebook. We’re in a battle with the virus,” she told reporters on Monday. Facebook has pushed back aggressively on criticism by Mr. Biden and his senior advisers in recent days, prompting a new level of tension between the social-media company and the U.S. government. (Restuccia, 7/19)
The Washington Post: Facebook Isn't Sharing How Many Americans Viewed Vaccine Misinformation
Facebook’s back-and-forth with the Biden administration got ugly over the weekend. The social network scrambled to respond to the president’s striking accusation that the company is “killing people” for allowing the spread of misinformation about coronavirus vaccines. Shortly after President Biden’s comments to reporters, Facebook spokeswoman Dani Lever said the company wouldn’t respond to accusations that weren’t “supported by the facts.” ... But Facebook still isn’t sharing a key statistic: how many people have seen vaccine misinformation on the platform. It's part of a broader pattern of little transparency from the company, which has sought to downplay its role in spreading vaccine misinformation amid growing pressure from the White House and the surgeon general. Independent researchers and journalists have pressed the company for years to make more data available so they can study the impact of Facebook on society. (Zakrzewski and Schaffer, 7/19)
In related news —
NBC News: Twitter Suspends Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Again, For Covid-19 Tweets
Twitter suspended Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on Monday after a pair of posts about Covid-19 that the company said violated its misinformation policy. Greene, who has compared mask mandates at the U.S. Capitol to the Holocaust and was suspended from Twitter earlier this year for making false claims about voter fraud, will be locked out of the social media platform for 12 hours. (Stelloh and Byers, 7/20)
