President Biden on Monday explained that he wasn't being literal when he said Friday that Facebook and other social media companies were "killing people" by allowing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation to spread online.
Facebook pushed back against the criticism over the weekend, and during a Monday press conference Biden clarified that it wasn't Facebook, but a handful of the site's users who are putting people at risk by posting false information about the COVID-19 shots. Still, he didn't necessarily let the company off the hook. "My hope is that Facebook — instead of taking it personally that somehow I'm saying Facebook is killing people — that they would do something about the misinformation, the outrageous misinformation about the vaccine," he told reporters. "That's what I meant."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Trump's Ukraine about-face puts GOP hawks in the hot seatIN THE SPOTLIGHT The president's pro-Russia pivot has alienated allies, emboldened adversaries, and placed members of his party in an uncomfortable position
-
Is method acting falling out of fashion?Talking Points The divisive technique has its detractors, though it has also wrought quite a few Oscar-winning performances
-
'There is a lot riding on the deal for both sides'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study findsSpeed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cowsSpeed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
-
Microplastics accumulating in human brains, study findsSpeed Read The amount of tiny plastic particles found in human brains increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024
-
FDA approves painkiller said to thwart addictionSpeed Read Suzetrigine, being sold as Journavx, is the first new pharmaceutical pain treatment approved by the FDA in 20 years
-
Study finds possible alternative abortion pillSpeed Read An emergency contraception (morning-after) pill called Ella could be an alternative to mifepristone for abortions
-
California declares bird flu emergencySpeed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study findsSpeed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
-
Dark chocolate tied to lower diabetes riskSpeed Read The findings were based on the diets of about 192,000 US adults over 34 years
