Dozens of US prosecutors write to Facebook about vaccine disinformation

Washington (ANTARA) – Attorney generals in 14 US states have sent letters to Facebook Inc chief executive Mark Zuckerberg asking if vaccine disinformation spreaders on the platform receive special treatment from the company.

The request came after Frances Haugen, a Facebook reporter, used internal company documents that revealed that the social media platform had built a system that excluded key people from various rules.

In a letter sent Wednesday, prosecutors said they were “deeply concerned” by reports that Facebook had lists of users receiving special treatment.

They also want to know if “Disinformation Dozen” get on that list.

Also read: The Ministry of Communication and Information says that there is still disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Digital Hatred Center (CCDH) describes “Disinformation Dozen” as 12 vaccine opponents responsible for spreading two-thirds of misleading vaccine content on social media.

Facebook did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The company previously said it had drawn up rules to prevent specific false claims about COVID-19 and a vaccine for the disease.

Facebook also said it had provided reliable information on the topic to the public.

Disinformation about COVID-19 has spread massively during the pandemic on social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Researchers and lawmakers have long accused Facebook of failing to monitor harmful content on its platform.

In July, US President Joe Biden said social media platforms such as Facebook were “killing people” for allowing misinformation about a COVID-19 vaccine to be posted on its platforms.

Haugen, a former product manager on Facebook’s civic misinformation team, resigned from the nearly $1 trillion company.

He carried tens of thousands of classified documents and called for transparency about how Facebook persuaded users to keep scrolling so that advertisers could reach them.

The letter was signed by 14 attorneys general from the states of Connecticut, California, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.

Source: Reuters

Also read: Twitter launches new feature for COVID-19 disinformation

Also read: Expert: Disinformation can hinder the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic

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