«They’re killing people.»
President Joe Biden’s shot at social media networks like Facebook over Covid-19 misinformation circulating on their platforms may betray frustration that his success in fighting the pandemic is being undermined by vaccine hesitancy. Some Republican leaders and conservative talk show hosts are seeking to boost their political profiles and ratings by hyping the government vaccine effort as the actions of a totalitarian government trying to erode American freedoms. And it’s having a terrible toll, as Covid-19 cases shoot up in Republican-led states especially and as it emerges that almost everyone now dying from the disease is unvaccinated. Social media networks, including Facebook, are some of the main venues where the misinformation is propagated. (Facebook isn’t happy and accused Biden on Saturday of lashing out because he missed his deadline to get 70% of adults to take at least one dose of the vaccine by July 4.) The President’s comment poses an interesting question. Is it time to start drawing a tougher political line against conservatives apparently seeking to undermine the vaccine push that is central to the success of his term? The White House has made strenuous efforts to depoliticize the pandemic, reasoning that the virus doesn’t distinguish between Democrats and Republicans. Given ex-President Donald Trump’s repeated efforts to undermine public health guidance and to take care of his own political goals rather than public health, it was probably always too much to expect a fresh start.
