Biden walks back Facebook 'killing people' comment, says he was talking about users spreading misinformation
President waited nearly three days to clarify his comments
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President Biden said Monday that Facebook "isn’t killing people," after accusing the social media giant last week of allowing misinformation related to coronavirus vaccines appear on the platform.
Biden, last week, accused Facebook of "killing people" by allowing what he deems as misinformation on coronavirus vaccines to be shared on the site.
On Monday, Biden was asked about his remarks and sought to clarify his point.
"Facebook pointed out that most of the disinformation came from 12 individuals," Biden said. "I was asked, what is happening."
"Facebook isn’t killing people. These 12 people are killing people," Biden said. "My hope is that they would do something about misinformation— outrageous misinformation about vaccines."
FACEBOOK ISSUES HARSH RESPONSE TO BIDEN ACCUSATION THAT PLATFORM IS ‘KILLING PEOPLE’
His comments came after a reporter, last week, asked him: "On COVID misinformation, what’s your message to platforms like Facebook?"
"They’re killing people," Biden responded. "The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and they’re killing people."
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Facebook released a statement Friday appearing to object to Biden’s statement, arguing that the company is actually saving lives, not ending them.
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"We will not be distracted by accusations which aren’t supported by the facts," Facebook said in a statement. "The fact is that more than 2 billion people have viewed authoritative information about COVID-19 and vaccines on Facebook, which is more than any other place on the internet. More than 3.3 million Americans have also used our vaccine finder tool to find out where and how to get a vaccine. The facts show that Facebook is helping save lives. Period."
Facebook, in February, launched a campaign to combat misinformation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines, and to inform the public on where and when they can get vaccinated.