Slamming Facebook for allowing subscribers to spread misinformation about vaccines, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the White House was not considering legal action against the social network giant. Reports about vaccines side effects or ineffectiveness in stopping the spread of Covid-19 prompted 78-year-old President Joe Biden to say Facebook was “killing people.” Sounds familiar to the statements made by former President Donald Trump before he was banned from Twitter Jan. 8 and Facebook June 7, both claiming that Trump’s statements about the Nov. 8, 2020 presidential election incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and mob scene. It’s easy for Facebook and Twitter to ban Trump claiming he presents a clear-and-present danger to American society. Twitter and Facebook never gave Trump any credit for developing the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
When asked about whether the White House would use Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland and the Justice Department to go after anyone spreading misinformation on social platforms, Psaki said, “no.” “That’s up to Congress to determine how they want to proceed forward, but let me just note that we’re not in a war or battle with Facebook. We’re in a battle with the virus,” Psaki said, repeating old White House talking points. “The only pandemic we have is among unvaccinated,” Biden said, ignoring the amount of Covid-19 cases with new variants with single and double-vaccinated people. Biden later clarified that at least 12 people on Facebook amounted the lion’s share of false reports about vaccines. When it comes to the untold numbers of people giving misinformation on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, there’s no punishment, unless it happens to be the former President.
Biden walked back his latest gaffe, saying that “Facebook is killing people.” “Facebook isn’t killing people,” Biden flip-flopped in his previous remarks. ”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. My hope is that Facebook, instead of taking it personally that he would do something,” Biden said. But when it comes to Trump, the angry Democrat mob has no problem with silencing the former president. God forbid anyone hears an alternative explanation from the one heard in the mainstream press. FBI officials confirmed that Trump’s Jan. 6 speech on Washington Ellipse had nothing to do with the Capitol riot, something planned by white anarchist groups for months, a response to the months of left-leaning riots, looting, arson and anarchy seen for months over last summer.
When it comes to Trump, everything he does is dangerous to Democrats, requiring social networks to ban him from the platforms. Disseminating fake news about vaccines on Facebook and Twitter, it no danger to anyone, only Trump. Democrats make exceptions for social network giants to abuse their Section 230 protections about censoring third party content, something that goes with the territory of running social networks. Only when it comes to former President Trump or over Republicans do social networks feeling inclined to ban permanently ban conservatives because they threaten the status quo that seeks permanent universal mail-n ballots to assure that Republicans never hold national office again. Whatever propaganda and disinformation is spread in New York Times, Washington Post, CNN or MSNBC, it’s all fair game because it’s endorsed by the Democrat Party.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is running ads on national TV to counter misinformation and disinformation about vaccines. Murthy thinks the public has been duped on social networks seeing baseless reports about dangers of vaccines or whatever. But why does the Murthy or Psaki think that the only place the public gets fake news is on social networks? What about the countless fake stories in the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, etc., that talk about Trump’s Russian ties? Why is it OK for bureaucrats like Murthy or Psaki to swallow hook, line and sinker the fake reports coming from the credentialed U.S. media? There’s no effort to ban journalists or their organizations for spreading rubbish in print and broadcast outlets. Only “menaces” like Trump get banned because Democrats have a stranglehold on propaganda and disinformation largely disseminated through mainstream broadcast and print outlets. Where’s the consistency with social network blackballing?
Facebook bristled when old sleepy Joe said the social network is “killing people.” How much more hypocrisy can the public take about social networks picking-and-choosing who’s banned and who’s not? “The fact is that more than 2 billion people have viewed authoritative information about Covid-19 and vaccines on Facebook, which is more than any other on the Internet . . .” said an unnamed Facebook spokesman. Facebook and Twitter crossed the line when they banned Trump, alleging he was promoting revolution in the United States. Last time I checked, Trump was acquitted in the Senate of alleged high crimes and misdemeanors, accusing the former president of “incitement of insurrection.” Yet once Trump was acquitted Feb. 13 in the U.S. Senate, Facebook and Twitter decided to ban him for life or at least two years. To Biden’s White House, it makes perfect sense to blackball Trump.
