Washington: On Saturday, Facebook defended itself against U.S. President Joe Biden’s claim that social media platforms allowed misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine to spread, thereby “killing”, saying facts tell a different story .
“The data shows that 85% of Facebook users in the US have been or want to be vaccinated against COVID-19,” Facebook said in a corporate blog post by Guy Rosen, a company vice president. “President Biden’s goal was for 70% of Americans to be vaccinated by July 4. Facebook is not the reason this goal was missed.”
COVID-19 misinformation has spread during the pandemic on social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet Inc-owned (GOOGL.O) YouTube. Researchers and lawmakers have long accused Facebook of failing to police harmful content on its platforms.
“They’re killing people. … Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday when asked about misinformation and what his message was to social media platforms such as Facebook.
The company has established rules that prohibit specific false claims about COVID-19 and its vaccine, and stated that it provides people with reliable information on these topics.
U.S. officials said on Friday that the delta change of the coronavirus is manifested in the major strains of the virus worldwide, and the death toll has soared across the United States, almost entirely of unvaccinated people.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States has increased by 70% from the previous week, and the number of deaths has increased by 26%. The outbreak occurred in areas with low vaccination rates in the country.
