Facebook says it won't be “distracted by accusations which aren't supported by the facts” in response to Biden's comment that social media is “killing people”

Facebook fired back on Friday evening after President Biden earlier said that social media platforms are …

Axios 2021-07-18 Gigi Sukin

Context & Ripple Effects

The White House had already called on Facebook and other platforms to do more on COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. Facebook answered with its own data, saying vaccine hesitancy among U.S. users had fallen 50%, setting up a public dispute over how platform responsibility should be measured.

The exchange was subsequently narrowed when Biden said he meant leading misinformation spreaders rather than Facebook itself. That clarification shifts the argument from a blanket indictment of platforms toward pressure on Facebook to address specific high-reach accounts.

First-order effects

Facebook publicly rejects the administration's characterization and anchors its defense in reported user-level vaccine-hesitancy data rather than announcing a new moderation measure.
Biden's criticism puts Facebook's handling of COVID-19 misinformation under direct White House scrutiny, while Facebook faces pressure to show that its enforcement is reducing harm.

Second-order effects

The administration's later focus on top misinformation spreaders makes prominent-account enforcement a more immediate test for Facebook than broad claims about the platform's overall effect.
Facebook's reliance on its reported hesitancy decline raises the stakes for measurement: the company and its critics are now contesting not only moderation policy but the evidence used to judge it.

Third-order effects

The dispute points toward platform-governance debates being adjudicated through competing outcome metrics and demands for action against high-reach accounts, rather than through platforms' stated rules alone.

The trend: Public-health misinformation is pushing platform accountability debates toward measurable outcomes and enforcement against the users with the greatest reach.

Discussion

@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