{"id":74177,"date":"2021-07-17T14:16:38","date_gmt":"2021-07-17T18:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=74177"},"modified":"2021-07-17T14:17:28","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T18:17:28","slug":"us-govt-screaming-about-urgent-threat-of-vaccine-misinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=74177","title":{"rendered":"US Gov’t Screaming About \u2018Urgent Threat\u2019 of Vaccine Misinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Surgeon General, Rockefeller Foundation Announce Big Initiatives to Address \u2018Urgent Threat\u2019 of Vaccine Misinformation<\/h1>\n

The U.S. surgeon general on Thursday issued an advisory calling on tech companies to crack down on what the office called vaccine \u201cmisinformation.\u201d The same day, The Rockefeller Foundation announced $13.5 million in new funding to combat vaccine \u201cmisinformation and disinformation.\u201d<\/em><\/h3>\n

By Megan Redshaw
\nThe Defender<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy on Thursday issued<\/a> an advisory warning the American public about the \u201curgent threat\u201d of health misinformation and disinformation that have \u201cthreatened the U.S. response to COVID-19 and continue to prevent Americans from getting vaccinated, prolonging the pandemic and putting lives at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 22-page advisory<\/a> calls on Big Tech<\/a> and social media companies to take more responsibility to stop the online spread of health misinformation.<\/p>\n

The advisory blamed \u201cmisinformation\u201d for causing people to decline COVID<\/a> vaccines, reject public health measures such as masking and physical distancing and using unproven treatments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Murthy, who operates under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said in a press release<\/a>, \u201cAs Surgeon General, my job is to help people stay safe and healthy, and without limiting the spread of health misinformation, American lives are at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the HHS press release, whether \u201chealth misinformation\u201d is false, inaccurate or misleading will be determined by the \u201cbest available evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The advisory further defined the \u201cbest available evidence<\/a>\u201d standard as the preferred benchmark<\/a>because \u201cclaims can be highly misleading and harmful even if the science on an issue isn\u2019t yet settled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can meaningfully improve the health information environment even without a consensus definition of misinformation,\u201d Murthy said.<\/p>\n

The full advisory<\/a> lays out recommendations for families, health professionals, researchers, educators, media, funders, government and technology platforms, and urges individuals to take responsibility to limit the spread of misinformation.<\/p>\n

The advisory<\/a> calls for media and social media companies to increase staff to moderate posts, amplify preferred voices, improve algorithms to address misinformation, moderate live streams and impose \u201cclear consequences for accounts that repeatedly violate platform policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schools and educational institutions are encouraged to crack down on misinformation by educating people on \u201ctactics used by those who deny scientific consensus on health issues\u201d and \u201cintroduce conspiracies.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview with NPR<\/a>, Murthy said Americans must do their part to fight misinformation. \u201cCOVID has really brought into sharp focus the full extent of damage that health misinformation is doing,\u201d Murthy said ahead of the advisory\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

Surgeon general\u2019s advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that demand immediate attention.<\/p>\n

In a White House press briefing<\/a> Thursday, press secretary Jen Psaki singled out Facebook<\/a> as needing to do more to combat COVID vaccine misinformation on its platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cFacebook needs to move more quickly to remove violative posts,\u201d Psaki said. \u201cPosts that will be within their policies\u2019 removal often remain up for days. That\u2019s too long. The information spreads too quickly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A CNN source<\/a> said Biden officials took concerns about vaccine misinformation to Facebook and concluded the tech giant was either not \u201ctaking this very seriously, or they are hiding something\u201d due to what they view as Facebook\u2019s unwillingness to tackle vaccine misinformation.<\/p>\n

The source pointed to how Robert F. Kennedy Jr., co-founder and chair of Children\u2019s Health Defense<\/a>, was banned from Instagram<\/a>, which is owned by Facebook, but not from Facebook itself.<\/p>\n

The Facebook spokesperson told CNN, \u201cWe don\u2019t automatically disable accounts across our apps, because the accounts may post about different things on our different services.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview today with The Defender<\/a>, Kennedy said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very happy to debate the Surgeon General or to line my stacks up against his and allow the public to judge which one of us is the source of misinformation \u2014 is the font of all the vaccine misinformation, disinformation and obfuscation. I would also remind the Surgeon General that censorship by the government is not just un-American, it\u2019s unconstitutional, and he should have the confidence in his policies in the marketplace of ideas and not have to rely on coercion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy said it\u2019s not up to the government or CNN to decide. He said:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a dangerous path for democracy when we allow government officials and CNN, which is utterly dependent<\/a> on pharmaceutical advertising, to tell Americans they are not allowed to criticize pharmaceutical products \u2014 zero liability<\/a>, experimental<\/a> pharmaceutical products.\u201d<\/p>\n