Nandita Bhose

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – When U.S. President Joe Biden indicted Facebook (NASDAQ) for “killing people”, many experts and researchers hoped that it would signal the start of a White House fight against misinformation regarding the outbreak of coronavirus pandemics throughout the United States.

Six months later, the misinformation flood continues. The entities fighting against harmful information are calling for more of the White House. With over 2,600 deaths per day, COVID-19 has seen its highest level in almost one year. U.S. data shows the death rate of those not immunized is much higher than that of boosters and jabs.

David Lazer who is co-leads Covid States Project said that “the problem of vaccine misinformation” was big last year and still is today. He stated that misinformation must be dealt with “with continued focus, attention, and effort.”

Biden did not criticize Facebook again after he criticized it on July 16. A Reuters analysis of speeches and comments by the president since then shows that Biden had never accused Facebook, or any other company of spreading misinformation. According to the analysis, Biden has given 24 speeches about COVID since calling out Facebook.

Interviews conducted with eleven White House officials, experts, and researchers on this subject show that White House top aides think Biden doesn’t have many legal options. They also feel the administration lacks a plan to regulate Silicon Valley. Many pieces of legislation that would hold social media platforms responsible for their actions have been stalled.

Biden didn’t issue an executive order, proclamation or directive to counter misinformation like he did nearly three dozen times regarding other pandemic topics according to a Reuters count of White House records.

The White House and Center for Countering Digital Hate(CCDH) identified a dozen misinformation spreaders last year. They still have over 40 accounts on Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook and Alphabet (NASDAQ)’s YouTube, along with other social media sites, which had millions of followers as of December.

A White House official stated that the White House has been “in regular contact with social media platforms as well as leaders, and media outlets” about how important it is to ensure they don’t spread misinformation. According to the White House official, these meetings discuss the activities of social media platforms in combating harmful information. They also hold them accountable.

In a survey that was conducted January by the COVID States Project in the United States, the majority of healthcare professionals found vaccine misinformation to be the most significant factor in the decision to not get the COVID-19 vaccination.

The survey found that social media, especially Facebook, remains the main source of misinformation adversely affecting patients.

Although a Meta spokesperson refused to comment, the company stated that it has removed over 24,000,000 pieces of COVID-19-related content worldwide and warned users about more than 195,000,000 pieces of COVID related content on Facebook.

YouTube spokesperson stated that YouTube had ended the channels of many well-known propagators of vaccine misinformation. The company also said it has taken down over 130,000 YouTube videos since October 2020 for COVID-19.

PROBLEM IN SECTION 230

Biden does not have easy legal options. Section 230 of Communications Decency Act exempts social media companies and users from responsibility for content posted on those platforms. This is according to White House sources. Experts, researchers, and White House staff who are familiar with this issue.

Imran Ahmad, the chief executive officer of the Center for Countering Digital Hate said that the White House is “far too friendly with tech companies”. It is a problem when trying to legislate or fight against companies.

Biden received the most donations from tech firms. Former Silicon Valley insiders now hold key posts in his administration.

Sources close to the White House who were able to speak on the matter last year said that Biden’s decision to back down was due to a lack of legal options, and disagreement within the White House about how hard it should be on tech companies.

One source said that the best thing to do is urge companies to act. They did that a lot last year.

The White House had a series of confrontational meetings with top officials, including Facebook, to try to persuade the company to stop spreading misinformation about vaccines. Publicly, Jen Psaki, Press Secretary, and Vivek Murthy (Surgeon General) also criticised the platforms.

Biden’s off the cuff comments July 16th reflected this growing pressure. Biden, however, has resisted the temptation to name social media companies.

Biden has addressed the negative information posted on social media platforms at least four times, beginning July 16. Two times, Biden retracted comments made on Facebook by him: on July 19, he stated that Facebook “isn’t killing anyone” and on July 22, he added that he wasn’t attacking Facebook.

Six times, he also used the term “misinformation” to describe it as a problem without noting the specific role that social media companies have played since July 16.

Following Biden’s July observation, a Surgeon General’s advisory regarding health misinformation within the United States focuses not on companies but the community that can fight it. Spotify (NYSE 🙂 was recently accused of spreading misinformation regarding COVID. The White House criticized the company and said they should have done more.

Hany Farid is a professor of computer science and a misinformation researcher at University of California at Berkeley. She urged last year the White House’s Domestic Policy Team to take more steps to combat misinformation.

Farid stated that he had not received a coherent or consistent message from the White House. He wants more public leadership. “I have not received a message by the White House… I want Congress to be serious.”