Facebook is not taking enough measures to prevent the spread of false claims about Covid-19, White House secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday.
Facebook, which also owns Whatsapp and Instagram, is not doing enough to remove inaccurate vaccine information from its platform, he added.US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy also showed concern over the growing wave of misinformation about COVID-19 and related vaccines, saying it is making it harder to fight the pandemic.
In his advisory as the nation’s top doctor under Joe Biden, Murthy told tech companies to conform their algorithms to help demote false information on covid vaccines, and share more useful data with the help of researches to keep civilians informed.
“Health misinformation is a serious threat to public health. It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, harm people’s health, and undermine public health efforts. Limiting the spread of health misinformation is a moral and civic imperative,” he said in the advisory, first reported by National Public Radio.
Facebook has changed its previous methodology in which 12 people responsible for conduiting 65% of misinformation about covid vaccines were reported in May.
A facebook spokesperson defending the platform assured that facebook has partnered with government authorities, healthcare professionals, and researchers to take action against people spreading false
