Biden: Social media ‘killing people’ with COVID misinformation Misinformation about the virus and vaccines has spread on platforms including Facebook and Twitter. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021...l-media-is-killing-people-with-misinformation
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/07/is-facebook-killing-people.php POSTED ON JULY 16, 2021 BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN FACEBOOK, FREE SPEECH IS FACEBOOK KILLING PEOPLE? Today saw a follow-up to the revelation that the Biden administration is instructing Facebook as to “misinformation” that Facebook should delete from its platform. Joe Biden was asked about his administration’s relationship with Facebook as he departed for Camp David. His response was striking: President Biden on Friday accused Facebook of “killing people,” just after White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration is “in regular touch” with the platform to ensure correct “narratives” are promoted — elaborating on her Thursday admission that the White House is “flagging problematic posts” to censor. Biden was asked about his message for platforms like Facebook as he departed the White House on Friday afternoon for a weekend trip to Camp David. “They’re killing people. The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people,” Biden said. According to Biden, Facebook is killing people by not blocking conversation on its platform about the pros and cons of anti-covid vaccines. To say that this is a slippery slope is an understatement. I personally think that news outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post are killing people by supporting the anti-police movement that has indisputably caused increased homicide rates in many cities, by supporting homicidal regimes in places like Iran and Cuba, by promoting the absurd Critical Race Theory that among other things is weakening the U.S. military, by urging higher taxes that are positively correlated with death rates, and no doubt in many other ways. Moreover, what the New York Times and the Washington Post (and most other media outlets) are doing is far worse than Facebook’s “killing people.” Facebook just allows–or used to, anyway–a free discussion among the many users of its platform. The Times et al. actually promote ideas that kill many thousands of people, and do their best to block opposing ideas that could save lives. The Biden administration’s leaning on Facebook to stop “killing people” probably isn’t fooling anyone. Social media platforms used to be free, and liberals hate freedom. They want to bring those platforms to heel in service of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, pretty much all the oligarchs who run the major social media platforms are left-wing Democrats. So they have been happy, apparently, to accede to the administration’s flagging of “misinformation” that should be deleted. For once in their lives, liberals stick up for the private sector by saying that Facebook, Twitter, et al. are not subject to the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech because they are private companies. That is true as far as it goes. But if Facebook and the other social media giants censor user content at the behest of the Biden administration, they become state actors whose actions are subject to the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. Thus, the Democratic Party is on a collision course with the United States Constitution. Given the current composition of the Supreme Court, the Constitution might possibly come out on top.
Is he wrong? Only 12 people published content that produced 65% of the antivax disinformation on Facebook and Facebook took no action on those users. They either are incompetent or in on the campaign. No two people have contributed more to the deaths of Americans in the Covid era than Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg. There’s a special place in hell for both of those assholes.
That’s like accusing the highway of killing people instead of the drunk drivers. Perhaps we should remove enforcement of don’t drive drunk. Now, if the owner of the highway put up signs that said yes we know you are drunk, but we still welcome you paying the tolls so drive on, are the owners also responsible?
Bartenders that over serve their customers are held responsible if that person kills someone. I agree with you Zuckerberg and the fox news clowns should be charged with killing their customers.
I wouldn’t go that far but they do play a hefty role as they are mostly self regulated. To me, Zuckerberg is playing out both sides, asking for more regulation and yet refuses to self regulate. If he thinks more regulation is needed he should go ahead and lead the industry on what that looks like. What he is doing is putting himself into a safe position and leaving the responsibility to the gov probably fully aware that the government is so divided and slow that they won’t be able to do that. But we have also seen him being a fast follower at times - see the Jan 6th banning. When it comes to these self regulation, then it’s up to the public to pressure these companies. The gov can play a constructed role of helping to encourage standardization. We should really be able to have some baseline around public safety and if that cannot happen via self regulation, the gov should have the power to then regulate toward that baseline.
Turley https://jonathanturley.org/2021/07/...ch-as-killing-people-by-not-censoring-speech/ excerpt July 17 2021 10:53 AM Fear Free Speech: Biden Denounces Big Tech as “Killing People” By Not Censoring Speech *** The White House recently admitted that it was flagging “misinformation” for censorship by companies like Facebook. Moreover, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has called for people to be banned from all social media if any one company bans them. Biden is accusing these companies of actually killing people for refusing even more extensive censorship of speech. The statement equates free speech with death itself. We have seen this type of reckless rhetoric in other areas where disagreement with a policy or proposal is treated as de facto racism or hate speech. That was the case recently with the NAACP official who denounced those of opposing what is commonly referred to as critical race theory lessons as haters of a long litany of groups from the disabled to children to “help people.” This was followed by the chilling words “Let them die.” Rather than seek to convince the skeptical, Biden wants to silence them and use these companies to control what is read and discussed about the pandemic. What is chilling is the degree to which reporters and academics have supported the massive censorship system in the United States. However, that system is clearly not (to use Sen. Blumenthal’s words) “robust enough” for Biden who wants these companies to carry out a more complete censorship of opposing views. I do not fault those who want to convince citizens to take the vaccinations. I have had the vaccinations as has my family. However, this is part of an overall push for greater censorship and speech controls. Governments always claim noble purposes as the basis for limiting speech or other rights. It is the very danger Louis Brandeis once described in his dissenting opinion in Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928): Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.
apparently President Biden has changed his mind Biden walks back criticism: 'Facebook isn't killing people' https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...s-criticism-facebook-isnt-killing-people?rl=1
