Facebook says their data shows a 50% decline in vaccine hesitancy among US users, refuting Biden's claim that it's “killing people” by allowing COVID-19 misinfo

At a time when COVID-19 cases are rising in America, the Biden administration has chosen to blame a handful of American social media companies.

About Facebook 2021-07-18 Guy Rosen

Context & Ripple Effects

The dispute followed [[a:968568|Biden’s public accusation that platforms were harming people through vaccine misinformation]] and reports that White House officials had pressed Facebook more directly. Facebook’s response makes its internal measure of vaccine hesitancy the central counterargument to those demands.

The disagreement is not only over moderation actions, but over which evidence should govern the assessment of platform responsibility. Facebook later said it had acted against 12 alleged vaccine-misinformation superspreaders, while contesting claims about their share of misinformation.

First-order effects

Facebook can use its reported decline in user vaccine hesitancy to defend its existing COVID-19 misinformation approach against the Biden administration’s criticism.
The White House’s push for further Facebook action is sharpened into a dispute over Facebook’s internal data and the link between platform content and vaccine behavior.

Second-order effects

Calls for platform intervention are likely to focus more directly on the transparency and interpretation of Facebook’s measurement, rather than on removal totals alone.
Facebook’s claimed action against prominent misinformation sources puts greater attention on whether enforcement against a small set of accounts changes the broader information environment.

Third-order effects

Platform-health-policy disputes are moving toward accountability frameworks that require companies to substantiate behavioral-impact claims, not merely describe moderation policies.
If public officials and platforms continue to rely on competing internal metrics, access to and standards for platform evidence will become a core fault line in misinformation governance.

The trend: COVID-19 misinformation policy is shifting from arguments over whether platforms should act to arguments over how their real-world impact should be measured and verified.

Discussion

@ct_bergstrom Carl T. Bergstrom on x
After Biden's criticism of @Facebook for their inaction on antivax propaganda, @fbnewsroom is going on the offensive. They issued a press release that is a textbook example of bluster, obfuscation, and agnatogenesis. Here's the link. Let's take a look. https://about.fb.com/...
@juddlegum Judd Legum on x
Facebook sticking to their strategy of selectively releasing proprietary data — without providing the necessary context for anyone to evaluates its claims — and pretending it's transparency https://twitter.com/...
@brianschatz Brian Schatz on x
Delete the misinformation accounts. You have a perfect legal right to do so but you have made a choice to allow them to continue to spread lethal lies. https://twitter.com/...
@qjurecic Quinta Jurecic on x
Publishing a piece titled “Moving Past the Finger Pointing” doesn't actually strike me as the best way to move past the finger pointing https://about.fb.com/...
@drdavidley David J. Ley PhD on x
“VP of Integrity?” I'd love to see the qualifications and description for this position. https://twitter.com/...
@quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
And if you can't trust Facebook to tell the truth, who can you trust? https://twitter.com/...
@sbyrnes Sean Byrnes on x
Do we think we can trust this more than their video analytics numbers? No, no we can't. https://twitter.com/...
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
I get the thinking behind a tweet like this (though I'm uncomfortable with the 1st sentence appearing as an imperative from a govt official), but the issue that is ignored is this is *way* easier said than done. https://twitter.com/...
@soledadobrien Soledad O'Brien on x
Lol. Facebook newsroom reporting on... itself. https://twitter.com/...
@ylecun Yann LeCun on x
85% of FB users have been or want to be vaccinated. Many countries that use FB as much as the US have much lower level of anti-vaxxers. The cause of anti-vaxx sentiment in the US is not social media. In fact FB has done a lot to promote vaccinations, as Guy Rosen writes here. htt…
@reedgalen Reed Galen on x
.@Facebook is a utility everyone hates, wishes they could get rid of and knows everything about you. https://twitter.com/...
@jaronschneider Jaron Schneider on x
Tell that to our filling hospitals and rising cases that are made up of just about entirely the unvaccinated. https://twitter.com/...
@melissaryan Melissa Ryan on x
Biden clearly struck a nerve over at Facebook. We're on day two of their attempt at crisis comms. https://twitter.com/...
@dylanbyers Dylan Byers on x
NEW: In blog post, Facebook VP of Integrity Guy Rosen calls on White House to “move past finger pointing” > “At a time when COVID-19 cases are rising in America, the Biden administration has chosen to blame a handful of American social media companies...” https://about.fb.com/...
@sarthakgh Sar Haribhakti on x
“The data shows that 85% of Facebook users in the US have been or want to be vaccinated against COVID-19. President Biden's goal was for 70% of Americans to be vaccinated by July 4. Facebook is not the reason this goal was missed.” Bold comms https://about.fb.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
This is a perfectly reasonable blog post by @guyro & good to know, but 1. Would be great if it provided more details about misinformation 2. All due respect and love his title, but this prolly should have been penned by Mark or Sheryl. I'm sure there was a long debate about it. h…
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x
I mean, how on Earth are you ever going to win this argument? Why even bother engaging? Multiple times! Just let it go and a million other news cycles wash it over... https://twitter.com/...
@sarahfrier Sarah Frier on x
Facebook doubles down on its critique of Biden saying “they're killing people” by saying we should instead focus on who they help. Again not acknowledging the role of its algorithm in the spread of vaccine hesitancy. https://about.fb.com/...
@emilydreyfuss Emily Dreyfuss on x
@Techmeme @guyro They should let outsiders see their data (anonymized) so that we could have faith in such a poll Additionally, that doesn't refute the allegation. Hesitancy could be going down among US users now, which has no bearing on how many people died before now due to wro…
@dylanbyers Dylan Byers on x
Biden takes it to 11: “They're killing people,” he says of Facebook. https://twitter.com/...
@ggreeneva Greg Greene on x
When President Biden said today that Facebook was “killing people,” the company deserved every bit of that rebuke. https://twitter.com/...
@ggreenwald Glenn Greenwald on x
There's a whole community on TikTok (you can find them here on Twitter, too) which scorns people as “fatphobic” for encouraging fitness and weight loss. They falsely say obesity isn't unhealthy. Should that be allowed? Are social media companies that allow it “killing people”? ht…
@benshapiro Ben Shapiro on x
Treat neutral platforms as violent enemies unless they comply with your censorship requests; threaten legislation and regulation until they curtail free dissemination of information. The end goal here is the weaponization of social media, of course.
@saracarterdc Sara A. Carter on x
Yikes!!! FB is killing people? According to President Biden https://twitter.com/...
@ggreenwald Glenn Greenwald on x
Are social media companies also guilty of “killing people” if they allow content encouraging people to be obese, to consume fatty junk food, content which glorifies cigarette smoking and large amounts of alcohol consumption and a sedentary lifestyle? https://twitter.com/...
@kari_jerge @kari_jerge on x
Biden's team is a day late and a dollar short with this one. I agree, wholeheartedly and 💯. And also where was this public campaign the second he took office? These words needed to be said months ago. To me, this has seems to be too little too late. 😔 https://twitter.com/...
@polisciprofhi Andrea Malji on x
I know Biden's referencing Covid and FB has already responded saying they have no role in disinformation that kills...but I would draw attention to FB's formal apology for its role in spreading violence in Myanmar and Sri Lanka that literally killed ppl. https://thediplomat.com/.…
@chelseaclinton Chelsea Clinton on x
President Biden is correct. Misinformation is dangerous, even deadly, and rampant on @facebook. The company doesn't care enough to even follow its own protocols on taking down covid-19 related lies. As @JesseLehrich points out, here is the most popular FB post today: https://twit…
@thebrandonmorse Brandon Morse on x
Was he instructed to go for the most dramatic answer possible? Voting rights is worse than the civil war. Facebook is killing people. Ffs, I don't like Zuck as much as the next guy but let's calm the f down. https://twitter.com/...
@xpangler Todd Spangler on x
Facebook, responding to Biden's comments, said: “We will not be distracted by accusations which aren't supported by the facts” https://variety.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Klain: “But I think that there is just no question that a lot of misinformation about the vaccines is coming from postings on Facebook. And this is a life or death situation here. And it's pretty straightforward, right?”
@esaagar Saagar Enjeti on x
All of this goes back to 2016. These people believe in their bones that Trump was only elected because of “misinformation”. Their solution is to rig the platforms instead of ask why so many millions lost trust in all our institutions in the first place https://twitter.com/...
@kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x
Well over as year into the pandemic, and the President of the United States says that Covid misinfo on sites Facebook is killing people https://twitter.com/...
@alexthomp Alex Thompson on x
Reporter: “What's your message to platforms like Facebook?” President Biden: “They're killing people. The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated and they're killing people” https://twitter.com/...
@dylanbyers Dylan Byers on x
The President of the United States saying that a specific business — in this case, Facebook — is “killing people” is... you know... a big deal.
@dylanbyers Dylan Byers on x
FACEBOOK official: “In private exchanges the Surgeon General has praised our work, including our efforts to inform people about COVID-19. They knew what they were doing. The White House is looking for scapegoats for missing their vaccine goals.”
@thehill @thehill on x
Reporter: “What's your message to platforms like Facebook?” President Biden: “They're killing people.” https://twitter.com/...
@peteralexander Peter Alexander on x
JUST IN: @Facebook responds to Biden ("They're killing people") re: COVID misinformation: “The facts show Facebook is helping save lives. Period.” Full statement here. https://twitter.com/...
@sachabaroncohen Sacha Baron Cohen on x
The President is right—Facebook is killing people. CEOs have been jailed for less. But under US law, social media CEOs have near total immunity, which is insane. Change the law. Hold Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook accountable for the death they cause. #StopDeathForProfit https://tw…
@jesselehrich Jesse Lehrich on x
per @crowdtangle data, this is the top Facebook post in the entire U.S. about vaccines today: https://twitter.com/...
@brianstelter Brian Stelter on x
Multiple Facebook execs have been invited to come on @ReliableSources tomorrow. So far no one has agreed. https://twitter.com/...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
Idle observation: any claim that misinformation on social is down to the ad model needs to explain why WhatsApp had problems despite having no ads, and explain why Fox News would change if it switched to a subscription model
@brandee Brandee Barker on x
I'm going to take a shot at a re-write: We appreciate the WH acknowledging Facebook's important role in spreading accurate information about the vaccine. We commit to vigilantly fight against & remove misinformation, especially that which may be leading to more death... https://t…
@jessreports Jesselyn Cook on x
Reminder that Facebook-owned Instagram is *still* actively recommending anti-vax content to users who search for vaccine info. https://www.huffpost.com/... https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@repzoelofgren Rep. Zoe Lofgren on x
A company can simultaneously be helping people get vaccinated & spreading misinformation. When it comes to Facebook, like President Biden, I am concerned about the latter. https://www.axios.com/...
@johnbattelle John Battelle on x
Can't agree more that Fox needs more attention, but...Facebook is, well, two orders of magnitude bigger. https://twitter.com/...
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
Should be fairly obvious that Facebook is deeply hostile to Democrats. Doesn't make the Hunter Biden censorship or Trump deplatforming untrue, but allegations that Zuckerberg is aligned with the Dems should bring forth a chuckle. https://about.fb.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
A lie and misleading info about vaccines in her post. Most of the spread isn't because of the author but because Facebook intentionally puts it in feeds of certain users without counterspeech, correction or labeling thereby accelerating its velocity to a microtargeted public. htt…
@jesselehrich Jesse Lehrich on x
wow they're really just gonna keep digging huh? https://twitter.com/...
@anthony @anthony on x
These are the top two posts for “Vaccine” on Facebook in the last 12 hours according to Facebook's Crowdtangle audience insights tool. Greene's post has 6x shares than the Biden one. https://twitter.com/...
@mollyjongfast Molly Jong-Fast on x
“Facebook saves lives” is gonna be a hard sell https://twitter.com/...
@alastairmca30 Alastair McAlpine on x
Facebook antivaccine groups have been PIVOTAL in spreading hesitancy and misinformation about vaccines. For every provax, science-based group, there are 20 antivaxx ones. I see the cost everyday. @Facebook is trash. #DeleteFacebook https://twitter.com/...
@davewiner Dave Winer on x
I don't own any Facebook stock, and in general do not approve of how the company conducts itself, but President Biden's line about how Facebook is killing people is horribly misdirected. If he said Rupert Murdoch were killing people, before Facebook, then he'd be credible.
@jesselehrich Jesse Lehrich on x
the audacity to troll the US gov't for missing vaccination goals while serving as the global HQ for deadly anti-vaxx propaganda is sickening. https://twitter.com/...
@rflaherty46 Rob Flaherty on x
I guess I'm left with a simple question: How many people have seen COVID vaccine misinformation on Facebook? https://twitter.com/...
@ceciliakang Cecilia Kang on x
Wow. Remarkable statement. So much tension between White House and Facebook right now. Heard from a source that WH incredibly frustrated after months of asking FB for data on vaccine misinfo that company, despite saying in public they want to work with WH, isn't sharing https://t…
@datadrivenmd Jorge A. Caballero on x
It takes a lot to get me to side with Facebook on the topic of vaccine misinformation, but the White House managed to do it So, congrats, or whatever. smdh /x https://twitter.com/...
@armano David Armano on x
Hm. Feels taken from a certain playbook https://twitter.com/...
@ccadelago Christopher Cadelago on x
Source close to White House pushes back on Facebook and this official: “For people who are volunteering that they're innocent, their response is giving off strong ‘if I did it’ vibes.” https://twitter.com/...
@charlesarthur Charles Arthur on x
Strategies not to try: blaming the administration for something else when it points out you've got a core of antivaxxers on your platform spreading lies. Classic bit of whataboutery which I never expected to see Facebook adopt. https://twitter.com/...
@mattnegrin @mattnegrin on x
Facebook is a right-wing propaganda outlet and this is a statement written by an anonymous apparatchik who will be advising Tucker Carlson's exploratory campaign in two years https://twitter.com/...
@tvietor08 Tommy Vietor on x
Quite something that after years of abuse by Trump, this is the presidential fight that Facebook decides to pick. https://twitter.com/...
@juddlegum Judd Legum on x
Not a meaningful stat unless Facebook reveals how many people viewed vaccine disinformation on Facebook https://twitter.com/...
@kevincollier Kevin Collier on x
I can't get over how revealing this statement is, how quintessentially Facebook. The self-righteous indignation that because it steered some to vaccines, it's beyond reproach. Measuring your ethics by tallying good actions vs bad ones on your own abacus. A facsimile of morality. …
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
I see @Dani_Lever made the statements. Not enough strength to tell her leadership it's a terrible statement and maybe instead they need to take their foot off the profit pedal and care about civil society for a moment. https://twitter.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
We've seen this in video metrics, fake accounts, all over the board. It's why they have a fraud case and their longtime top advertising exec resigned on the eve of docs being unsealed. Everything is a PR operation. Give nothing. https://twitter.com/...
@sarahfrier Sarah Frier on x
This is a common FB way of responding to criticism: saying “look at the bigger number.” Like when Zuckerberg says misinfo is a small portion of the overall information shared on Facebook. It's also a fact that viral/sensational/fearful claims on FB have kept people from shots. ht…
@peterhotez Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD on x
Actually WhiteHouse, HHS, Media have failed (again) to explain basis for antivaccine antiscience disinformation in America. Now dumbed down to the point where it's just false. As an expert (because I've been the lead target 🎯 for the past decade) will issue a statement on Monday …
@mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x
The fact that Facebook is declining to do what the administration wants seems like a problem for the theory that we are witnessing the total fusion of state & corporate power in the creation of a new censorship regime. https://twitter.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
Wow. That's a dumb a$$ statement from Facebook pointing out WE ALL were a few percent off the 70% vaccine target. And to do it anonymously through a spokesman to one of Sandberg's favorite journalists. Spineless. https://twitter.com/...
@campuscodi Catalin Cimpanu on x
“accusations not supported by facts” jfc... the nerve https://twitter.com/...
@timwattsmp Tim Watts MP on x
Hard to grapple with these ‘facts’ without sufficient transparency being provided to independent third party researchers to evaluate these claims. I only have the anec-data of my public Facebook page which constantly gets flooded with medical misinformation. https://twitter.com/.…
@rmac18 Ryan Mac🙃 on x
Statements like these exemplify the flaw in Facebook's thinking that good and bad can be weighed out on a scale. Connecting the world can't be seen as a net good if the negative externalities are genocide or election interference or health misinformation. https://twitter.com/...
@moonalice Roger McNamee on x
Facebook's rebuttal to President Biden is consistent with every FB denial. When challenged about algorithmic amplification, they try to change the subject to something with a big number that sounds good. They always do this. Period. https://twitter.com/...
@grady_booch Grady Booch on x
“We don't kill THAT many people.” Facebook is a profoundly unethical company, and it starts at the top, with Mark. https://twitter.com/...
@ryanhanrahan Ryan Hanrahan on x
What they don't mention (of course) is how disinformation runs rampant on their platform (and amplified by their algorithms) and they could care less. https://twitter.com/...
@susannadodgson DR Sj on x
Amazing. FB pays its executives billions, and gets a summer intern to write this response. https://twitter.com/...
@micahgrimes Micah Grimes on x
Two things can be true at once: - Facebook does a lot of good on the information front. - Facebook won't close the Pandora's box it created, because the box is the business model, for good and for very bad. https://twitter.com/...
@redsteeze Stephen L. Miller on x
Remember Joe Biden set his goals for his administration low and was cheered and applauded when he met them. He doesn't meet the vaccination rate he set and now it's Facebook's fault.
@lemberg Mikael Lemberg on x
@rashadrobinson @ChelseaClinton Both viewpoints can be true at the same time. Facebook can be saving the lives of those who use their vaccine finder tools etc. while other people die because they believe in myths they have seen on social media.
@rashadrobinson Rashad Robinson on x
This embarrassing statement from Facebook leadership has to make some of the staff uncomfortable, angry and motivated to do something. So many folks in the company know better. Now its time we hear from them, its time they decide who they want to be in the story of this moment. h…
@dorriequinn Lapilotodelasmontanas on x
@rashadrobinson That statement is embarrassing and frankly, juvenile. “How can we help work with you on this? We want to help save lives. “We understand the reach our platform has & are committed to filtering out disinformation”. would have been the correct response. @MarkZuckerb…
@mc_of_a Michael Caley on x
Facebook's response to “they're killing people” is to point out how many people they *haven't* killed https://twitter.com/...
@ratherreadabook @ratherreadabook on x
@rashadrobinson @KevinMKruse Facebook employees are like many Republican politicians: they are fine with lots of people getting COVID, or even dying from it, as long as they get to keep their jobs. Speaking out could help save lives, but could also lead to them losing their jobs.…
@mattzeitlin Matthew Zeitlin on x
i think you can be leery of the white house spokesperson trying to direct content moderation policy from the podium but this is laughably non-responsive to the critique being made https://twitter.com/...
@sheeraf Sheera Frenkel on x
Facebook's statement today is a perfect example of the deflection they do best, (and which we document in our book An Ugly Truth). They can direct some people to vaccines while at the same time directing other people to harmful, anti-vaccine misinformation. https://twitter.com/..…
@thekenyeung Ken Yeung on x
Looks like Facebook isn't afraid to take on the president. Quite vocal compared to the last guy. https://twitter.com/...
@karissabe Karissa Bell on x
Seems like a good time to remind everyone that until very recently Facebook did very little to stop vaccine misinformation bc the company (including Zuckerberg) kept bizarrely insisting that vaccine misinformation wasn't likely to cause “imminent harm”

Chronicles