Biden walks back criticism of Facebook COVID-19 misinformation

President Biden on Monday softened his criticism that platforms like Facebook are “killing people” with misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, saying he wishes the company would do more to stop the spread of inaccurate information.

“Facebook isn’t killing people, these 12 people are out there giving misinformation. Anyone listening to it is getting hurt by it. It’s killing people. It’s bad information,” Biden told reporters after giving remarks about the economy, referencing a study that showed a dozen accounts on Facebook are responsible for the majority of misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine seen on the platform.

“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,” Biden added. “That’s what I meant.”