Federal outreach to platforms began with a 2020 request for help combating and tracking coronavirus misinformation, then escalated when the White House said it was flagging Facebook posts spreading COVID-19 misinformation. State-level scrutiny added pressure: DC investigators subpoenaed Facebook records on its handling of COVID misinformation, while 14 state AGs sought vaccine-misinformation details tied to internal documents. The surgeon general’s request moves the focus from individual posts and moderation appeals to platform-wide measurement.
First-order effects
Big Tech must compile and provide information quantifying COVID-19 misinformation on its services by the requested May 2 deadline, putting its internal measurement and reporting practices under direct federal scrutiny.
Facebook faces a particularly dense set of inquiries after prior White House alerts, the DC AG subpoena, and the states’ request for vaccine-misinformation records.
Second-order effects
Platforms’ responses will make the quality and availability of misinformation metrics a central point of accountability, rather than leaving the debate solely on individual moderation decisions.
The federal request reinforces state investigators’ push for underlying platform records, increasing pressure on companies to give outside officials a more consistent view of how health misinformation spreads.
Third-order effects
The sequence from voluntary cooperation requests to public alerts, subpoenas, and data demands points toward platform governance centered increasingly on auditable evidence of harm and enforcement, not only content-policy commitments.
If authorities continue seeking comparable records across platforms, measurement systems for misinformation may become a durable regulatory interface between social platforms and public-health officials.
The trend: US oversight of health misinformation is shifting from urging social platforms to act toward demanding data that can assess the scale of the problem and their response.
After 2 yrs where at some point natural immunity, vax induced myocarditis, & the possibility vax'd people transmit virus were all considered misinformation Seems reckless to think White House should have access to this info, and it will surely be misused https://www.nytimes.com/.…
Misinformation researchers have identified that anti-vaccine content can spread further and more quickly than pro-vaccine content on social media. Thank you to the @Surgeon_General for working to tackle the dis/misinformation infodemic: https://www.hhs.gov/... https://twitter.co…
You definitely want someone appointed by the President to be tasked with deciding which health information is “misinformation” That can surely never be misused. Nope. No risk for that. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Speaking as one who despises COVID misinfo, I'd say the SG needs to buzz off on this. We don't need a Ministry of Truth in this country and the best step the gov't can take regarding wrong public opinions about medicine is to make a humble effort not to contribute to them itself.…
Surgeon General Seeks Covid Misinformation Data From Big Tech. The public health establishment's Covid policies were disastrous failures. Now they want info from Big Tech on those who challenged the dominant narrative, even as that narrative falls apart. https://www.nytimes.com/.…
The collaboration between government and big tech to suppress the covid policy debate is a de facto Ministry of Truth. Yesterday's “misinformation” is today's fact... Did lockdowns kill? How did the plexiglass, cloth masks, & 6 ft distancing work out? https://www.nytimes.com/...
Surgeon General wants your data from Tech companies, because for some reason it's super important to know who saw COVID “misinformation” on big tech platforms, & who was most affected by it, and who shared it... Im sure it's totally for legit reasons. https://dailycaller.com/...
The great irony here is that the government is telling big tech to turn over Covid data while the CDC continues to hide Covid data: https://nypost.com/... https://twitter.com/...