Biden has eased up on Facebook over COVID-19 misinformation. Here’s why

After slamming Facebook on July 16, Biden never again publicly accused Facebook or another company by name of spreading misinformation, according to a Reuters analysis.

When U.S. President Joe Biden accused Facebook of “killing people” by spreading vaccine lies in July, many experts and researchers hoped it marked the beginning of a White House battle against a flood ofmisinformation about the coronavirus pandemic coursing through the United States.

Six months later, the deluge of misinformation continues and entities combating harmful information want the White House to do more. COVID-19 deaths recently hit their highest in almost a year, with over 2,600 people dying on average each day. U.S. studies show the unvaccinated are dying at much higher rates than those with jabs and boosters.

“The problem of vaccine misinformation was big a year ago and it is still big now,” said David Lazer, who co-leads the COVID States Project. Fighting misinformation “requires continued focus and attention and effort,” he said.

After slamming Facebook on July 16, Biden never again publicly accused Facebook or another companyby name of spreading misinformation, according to a Reuters analysis of the president’s speeches and remarks since that day. Biden has delivered 24 speeches on COVID specifically, including townhalls, since he called out Facebook, the analysis shows.

Interviews with 11 White House sources, experts and researchers who have worked with the Biden administration on this topic show that top White House aides feel Biden has few legal options to force social media platforms to comply and the administration has not been able to settle on a strategy to reinin Silicon Valley. Several pieces of legislation to hold social media companies responsible have stalled.

Biden also did not issue an executive order or proclamation to combat misinformation as he has done nearly three dozen times on other pandemic issues, according to a Reuters tally of White House records.

A dozen misinformation superspreaders identified by the White House and the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) last year, still hold over 40 accounts on Meta Platforms Inc-owned Facebook, Alphabet’s YouTube and other social media companies, with millions of followers, as of December.

The White House “has been in regular touch with social media platforms, as well as leaders and media outlets about the critical importance of ensuring that they do not peddle misinformation,” a White House official said. These meetings, the official said, include discussing the work such entities are doing to combat harmful information, and holding them accountable.