Biden Clarifies Facebook Killing People, Comment

This week, President Biden clarified his statement accusing Facebook of “killing people.”
Biden had read a report that 60% of Covid vaccines’ misinformation had come from just a dozen social media accounts.
Watch: 

“Facebook isn’t killing people; these 12 people are out there giving misinformation. Anyone listening to it is getting hurt by it. It’s killing people. It’s bad information.”
“My hope is that Facebook, instead of taking it personally that somehow I’m saying Facebook is killing people, that they would do something about the misinformation, the outrageous misinformation about the vaccine.”
“That’s what I meant,” the president said.
The clarification came after social media backlash after he briefly answered press questions without a teleprompter or notes, telling a journalist that “they’re killing people.”
“I mean they really, look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and that’s — they’re killing people.”

It was the only question taken just before he boarded Marine One to leave town for the weekend following other comments made by other Biden administration officials warning of the dangers of misinformation in combatting COVID-19.
Guy Rosen, the Vice President of Integrity for Facebook, pushed back against the accusation in a blog saying the Biden Administration needed to stop the finger-pointing.
Last week, Biden was asked by a reporter what his message is to “platforms like Facebook.” Biden stated before “The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated,” before repeating how platforms are “killing” those choosing not to get the shot.
Before Biden’s departure, White House press secretary Jen Psaki was pressed Friday by ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott over whether Facebook was doing enough to combat the issue.
“Clearly not,” Psaki said, “because we’re talking about additional steps that should be taken.”
Biden’s comments came after U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a warning last Thursday on the urgent threat of health misinformation shared on tech platforms.