The White House is partnering with social media to remove and censor so-called “anti-vaxxers” and “anti-vaxx posts.” Because, says Joe Biden’s press officer, “people are dying needlessly.” And that would be because of “fake news.”
Even American journalists who are somewhat left-wing in general find it somewhat problematic that the White House keep an eye on people regarding their social media posts. “How long have you been monitoring people and looking for vaccine misinformation’?” one such journalist wanted to know, for example. Because it’s a bit “Big Brother-esque.”
That was very exaggerated according to Jen Psaki. “As you know, we are in frequent contact with social media companies. This is public information; people who share information online, just like you share information on your news websites and channels.”
“Okay,” the reporter continued, “the 12 people you listed, do they know someone in the prosecutor’s office is reading their profile page?”
“There is no secret list,” Psaki replied. “I’ll tell you that these are people who share information on public platforms, on Facebook, information that is being circulated, that is inaccurate. Our biggest concern here, and it should be your biggest concern, is the number of people dying across the country because of misinformation leading them not to get vaccinated.”
“Young people, the elderly, children… A lot of these people are affected by disinformation.”
“But I think people are still concerned that this is Big Brother watching you,” said the journalist.
“Oh yeah? They’re more concerned about that than all those people dying across the country from misinformation being spread on social media? That doesn’t seem very likely to me.”