"They’re killing people," US President Joe Biden said of social networks’ inability — some say refusal — to stop Covid vaccine disinformation.
Biden made the point of all rational people: social media will not rein in anti-vaxxers and this misinformation.
The point is: social networks can clamp down. Last year, when Covid struck, they did. Visual app Pinterest has always blocked disinformation by anti-vaxxers. It is not only technically possible, it’s the right thing to do.
Biden’s frustration, like that of the rational, science-believing world, is that social media is prioritising revenue over public health.
"The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated," he said.
Let that sink in. The president of the US is accusing Big Tech companies of failing to do something they claim they can’t but will ultimately save lives.
White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci warned of "pain and suffering" unless people get vaccinated.
"We’re looking to some pain and suffering in the future because we’re seeing the cases go up, which is the reason why we keep saying the solution to this is get vaccinated," Fauci said.
Even Fox News said: "Vaccinated people have the same chance of finding a four-leaf clover as they do of catching a serious case of Covid."
Social media is prioritising revenue over public health
What is Facebook’s response, as the largest spreader of this anti-vaxxer nonsense? Spokesperson Dani Lever was insensitive and factually inaccurate: "We will not be distracted by accusations which aren’t supported by the facts."
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has effectively told the world that it is too hard for Facebook. "When you think about the integrity of a system like this, it’s a little bit like fighting crime in a city. No-one expects that you’re ever going to fully solve crime in a city," he told The Verge.
This is the same man who infamously once said he doesn’t think Holocaust denialists are "intentionally getting it wrong". His judgement of something as simple as denying history — despite it being extensively and painfully documented — shows he is not the man to be in charge of a social network that the US president has to publicly shame into doing something.
Zuckerberg won’t do what really matters: shut down all Covid misinformation, as was done last year, because "the police department’s goal is not to make it so that if there’s any crime that happens, that you say that the police department is failing", to use his own garbled metaphor. That, he says, is "not reasonable".
So there you have it. Zuckerberg thinks he’s done enough to save lives. The US president doesn’t. Just a reminder, Mr Zuckerberg, what the stakes are: "They’re killing people."
Shapshak is publisher of stuff.co.za and Scrolla.Africa
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