President Biden said social media platforms such as Facebook were 'killing people' as the White House doubled down on the danger of COVID-19 misinformation.
He spoke to reporters minutes after the issue dominated a White House press briefing, with reporters asking whether the administration was spying on American citizens by flagging misleading, dangerous information.
As he left for the weekend at Camp David, Biden was asked if he had a message for social media companies like Facebook.
'They’re killing people. I mean it really,' he said.
'Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated.
'And they’re killing people.'
President Biden told reporters social media companies were killing people with the spread of misinformation. 'Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated,' he said as he left the White House on Friday afternoon for a weekend at Camp David
Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, was asked repeatedly about how the White House could justify flagging social media posts about COVID-19 to Facebook
A day earlier the White House confirmed it had stepped up COVID-19 misinformation tracking as it tried to tackle slowing rates of vaccination across the nation, flagging misleading posts to Facebook for removal.
On Friday, White House press Jen Psaki was quizzed repeatedly about the practice.
Fox News' Peter Doocy asked: 'For how long has the administration been spying on people’s Facebook profiles looking for vaccine misinformation?'
'That was quite a loaded and inaccurate question,'
