President Joe Biden said Friday that the current coronavirus pandemic “is among the unvaccinated” and said misinformation spread on Facebook is “killing people.”
Biden briefly spoke to reporters as he left the White House and was asked by NBC News’ Peter Alexander what the president’s message to platforms like Facebook is regarding COVID-19 misinformation.
“They’re killing people,” Biden exclaimed. “I mean, they’re really – Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday that the administration is working with Facebook to flag “disinformation” regarding the coronavirus. The comments sparked backlash, with some critics like journalist Glenn Greenwald suggesting the move amounted to “authoritarianism.”
The press secretary defended the move Friday, telling reporters that an individual banned from one social media platform should be banned from all other platforms if accused of spreading misinformation.
“Our biggest concern here – and I frankly think it should be your biggest concern – is the number of people who are dying around the country because they’re getting misinformation that is leading them to not take a vaccine. Young people, old people, kids, children, a lot of them are being impacted by misinformation,” Psaki said.
