Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Erin Scott | Reuters
A coalition of 12 public attorneys general called on Facebook and Twitter on Wednesday to enforce their community guidelines and rid their services of disinformation spread by accounts promoting anti-vaccination ideas.
“Misinformation disseminated through your platforms has increased hesitation about vaccines, which will slow economic recovery and, more importantly, eventually cause more unnecessary deaths,” the coalition of attorneys general wrote in a letter to Facebook. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
The coalition emphasizes that only 12 accounts and associated organizations are responsible for 65% of public anti-vaccination content on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. In particular, the accounts are aimed at people of color to discourage them from getting the Covid-19 vaccines, the letter said.
The letter comes a day before Zuckerberg, Dorsey and Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the subject of misinformation about their services.
In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson noted that the company has removed more than 2 million pieces of misinformation about Covid-19 and vaccines since February and is “now rolling out labels for every post discussing vaccines.”