Facebook Tells Biden: ‘Facebook Is Not the Reason’ Vaccination Goal Was Missed

In recent months, Facebook has taken steps against anti-vaccination ads and misstatements about the vaccines. In October, it said it would no longer allow anti-vaccination ads on its platform. In February, the company went further and said it would remove posts with erroneous claims about vaccines, including assertions that vaccines cause autism or that it is safer for people to contract the coronavirus than to receive the vaccinations.

But online misinformation about the vaccines has not been eradicated. Lies have spread that vaccines can alter DNA or that the vaccines don’t work.

On Saturday, Mr. Rosen said in the blog post that among Facebook’s American users, vaccine hesitancy had declined by 50 percent since April and vaccine acceptance had increased by 10 to 15 percentage points, or to over 80 percent from 70 percent.

“While social media plays an important role in society, it is clear that we need a whole of society approach to end this pandemic,” Mr. Rosen said. “And facts — not allegations — should help inform that effort.”

The White House’s frustration with Facebook has mounted over several months, people with knowledge of the matter have said. While the Biden administration asked Facebook to share information about the spread of misinformation on the social network, the company refused to cooperate, the people have said.

On Friday, Robert Flaherty, the White House digital director, said in a tweet, “I guess I’m left with a simple question: How many people have seen Covid vaccine misinformation on Facebook?”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/17/technology/facebook-biden-vaccine-misinformation-tensions.html