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#Amy Klobuchar slams social media over COVID misinformation

#Amy Klobuchar slams social media over COVID misinformation

Sen. Amy Klobuchar attacked social media platforms over allowing “misinformation” on COVID-19 vaccines to spread at a time when the pandemic is ravaging the unvaccinated.

“There is absolutely no reason they shouldn’t be able to monitor this better and take this crap off their platform,” she told CNN anchor Dana Bash on her Sunday show “State of the Union.”

“Enough is enough!” the Democrat from Minnesota said, adding that the “liability standards” for these tech giants should be changed “when it comes to vaccine misinformation.”

Klobuchar’s remarks built on President Biden’s statement on Friday that platforms are “killing people” by allowing the spread of false information about the vaccines.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook hit back at Biden’s statements that it is spreading vaccine misinformation.
AP

Klobuchar told Bash that she supported using antitrust laws to unwind some of the most powerful social media giants, such as Facebook, in order to weaken their power and allow for more competition.

“I am a fan of using antitrust to look back and see if they should divest assets so we can get true competition against the dominant platforms,” she said.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy threw in his support Sunday, telling “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace that he has been speaking with the tech titans and will continue to ask them to take responsibility for the misinformation on the sites.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy White House press conference.
US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on the dangers of health misinformation.
EPA

“When we talk to people who believe some of these myths about the COVID-19 vaccine, about COVID itself, and asked of where did you get that information, many of them point to their social media platforms,” Murthy said. “This is about the health of Americans and the reality is that misinformation is still spreading like wildfire in our country, aided and abetted by technology platforms.”

Murthy issued an advisory last week on the dangers of health misinformation amid the rise of COVID-19 cases.

Facebook pushed back on Biden’s comments Friday, saying that “the White House is looking for scapegoats for missing their vaccine goals.” The administration missed its target to get 70 percent of Americans inoculated with at least one shot by July 4 by three percentage points, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

A woman receives a rapid COVID-19 test at a mobile testing van in New York, New York
COVID cases are on the rise amid slowing vaccination rates in the US.
EPA

Twitter took a less aggressive stance against Biden, saying it will “continue to do our part” to dispense authoritative health information.

The government’s focus on social media’s influence has been heating up for some time. Earlier this year, Klobuchar, along with Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), introduced a bill to target Section 230, which protects social media giants from being held liable for the content users post and how they moderate it. The bill, if passed, would make it easier to sue social media platforms for harmful content.

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