CBS via Getty Images
© 2024 Blaze Media LLC. All rights reserved.
Facebook VP pulls the data to dismantle Biden's claim that Facebook is 'killing people': 'A very different story'
July 18, 2021
President Joe Biden and his administration began waging war against social media companies last week, blaming them for allowing alleged "misinformation" about COVID-19 vaccines to spread on their platforms.
Such misinformation, the Biden administration claims, is why America has not reached Biden's vaccination goals.
But Facebook released new data Saturday proving that Facebook is not hindering vaccination efforts — but, in fact, has helped disseminate "vaccine acceptance."
What does the Biden admin claim?
Biden claimed on Friday that Facebook is "killing people" by permitting alleged "misinformation" about COVID-19 vaccines to spread on its platform.
His comments followed White House press secretary Jen Psaki revealing the White House was working in consort with Facebook to remove posts the White House deems "problematic." Psaki later said that individuals banned from one social media platform for sharing alleged "misinformation" should be unilaterally banned from other platforms.
What did Facebook reveal?
In a company blog post, Facebook vice president of integrity Guy Rosen called out Biden for blaming Facebook for rising COVID-19 cases in America, and explained the administration's claims aren't true.
"The fact is that vaccine acceptance among Facebook users in the US has increased," Rosen wrote. "These and other facts tell a very different story to the one promoted by the administration in recent days."
In fact, Rosen explained vaccine hesitancy among U.S. Facebook users "has declined by 50%" — and continues dropping daily.
Since January, vaccine acceptance on the part of Facebook users in the US has increased by 10-15 percentage points (70% → 80-85%) and racial and ethnic disparities in acceptance have shrunk considerably (some of the populations that had the lowest acceptance in January had the highest increases since). The results of this survey are public and we've shared them — alongside other data requested by the administration — with the White House, the CDC and other key partners in the federal government.
Rosen then identified the motive for Biden's criticism of Facebook: Biden failed to deliver on his promise that 70% of American adults would receive at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot by July 4.
Biden fell short of that goal by millions, according to CBS News.
"The data shows that 85% of Facebook users in the US have been or want to be vaccinated against COVID-19. President Biden's goal was for 70% of Americans to be vaccinated by July 4. Facebook is not the reason this goal was missed," Rosen explained.
In fact, Rosen highlighted the fact that Canada and the U.K. have similar Facebook usage rates as the U.S. — but those countries didn't fail to meet what Biden said his goal was for America.
"This all suggests there's more than Facebook to the outcome in the US," Rosen said.
Want to leave a tip?
We answer to you. Help keep our content free of advertisers and big tech censorship by leaving a tip today.
Want to join the conversation?
Already a subscriber?
Staff Writer
Chris Enloe is a staff writer for Blaze News
chrisenloe
more stories
Sign up for the Blaze newsletter
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content that may sometimes include advertisements. You may opt out at any time.
© 2024 Blaze Media LLC. All rights reserved.
Get the stories that matter most delivered directly to your inbox.
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content that may sometimes include advertisements. You may opt out at any time.