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US surgeon general on tech companies' steps to fight Covid misinformation: 'It's not enough'
CNN
US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy on Sunday said social media platforms must recognize that they played "a major role" in the spread of misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic and while they've taken some steps to fight back, it hasn't been enough.
"Some of them have worked to try to, you know, up promote accurate sources like the CDC and other medical sources. Others have tried to reduce the prevalence of false sources and search results," Murthy told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union." "But what I've also said to them, publicly and privately, is that it's not enough. That we are still seeing a proliferation of misinformation online. And we know that health misinformation harms people's health. It costs them their lives." Murthy's comments come on the heels of his warning last week that such misinformation is "a serious threat to public health." The Biden administration has recently turned up the heat on Facebook and other social media and technology companies amid increasing concern over misleading claims about coronavirus vaccines.
The retired Air Force general announced as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President Donald Trump after the abrupt Friday night firing of his predecessor is a respected career F-16 pilot who is described by current and former officials who served with him as a professional with a “strong moral center.”
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Over the past 10 days, Vice President JD Vance put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on notice, rattled the confidence of century-old allies in Western Europe during his first foreign trip, decamped to Capitol Hill to help in delicate budget talks and delivered a spirited defense of the Trump administration’s first month to a gathering of conservatives outside the nation’s capital.