White House, Congress Ratcheting Up Pressure On Tech-Generated Covid Misinformation

Disingenuous claims, especially by social media companies, YouTube and prominent search engines, that they are working to limit dis-and-misiformation, especially about Covid and vaccines, are no longer acceptable in Washington. 

The White House and Congress are demanding action - and now have the power to insist on it, especially since many Republicans, for their own reasons, also want to see tech's power reined in. Big tech is responding by hiring legions of Democratic lobbyists, but observers believe that may not work this time as public frustration with tech has also grown. JL

Cat Zakrzewski reports in the Washington Post:

Democrats have been extremely critical of the tech companies' hands-off approach to falsehoods since the 2016 election. Now that they're in charge in Washington, expect them to use their control of the White House and key committees to force Silicon Valley companies to take greater responsibility for disinformation. Facebook, Twitter and Google have struggled to enforce their rules on misinformation — and experts warn allowing anti-vaxxers to use their platforms unchecked for so long has made policing the conversation more difficult.

Democrats are already leveraging their new power in Washington to increase the pressure on social media companies to address misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine. 

The Biden administration and Democrats, who narrowly gained Senate control, are keen to tackle long-running concerns social media companies aren’t doing enough to quash the spread of false content. Health misinformation — particularly about vaccines — for years has been widely available on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, but the issue is gaining urgency as the United States engages in an unprecedented effort to swiftly immunize Americans against the coronavirus. 

Ron Klain, President Biden’s chief of staff, said that working with Silicon Valley would be a priority as the administration tries to run counterprogramming against anti-vaxxers. 

“We're going to obviously try to work with the social media companies to lessen the amount of disinformation that's available online and get the truth out there,” he said in an interview on “Meet the Press.”
Meanwhile, a group of senators, led by Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), sent a letter yesterday to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg urging them to increase transparency about efforts to fight vaccine-related misinformation.

“It is imperative that you be transparent about the amount of harmful misinformation that appears on your platforms and the effectiveness of your efforts to remove this content, so that public health organizations and experts can respond appropriately,” the senators wrote. 

Health misinformation will be a major focus of Washington in 2021 — and it could have significant influence over efforts to regulate the tech industry. 

Democrats have been extremely critical of the tech companies' hands-off approach to falsehoods since the 2016 election, when Russian actors sowed disinformation on Facebook and other platforms to divide the American public. Now that they're in charge in Washington, expect them to use their control of the White House and key committees to force Silicon Valley companies to take greater responsibility for disinformation. 

In their letter, the senators urged the companies to share data about how the amount of reports and removals of coronavirus content they've processed since the pandemic began, as well as details about the average time such misinformation remains online before being detected and removed. The lawmakers also asked the companies for updates on their new policies, as well as new information on partnerships with public health and civil rights organizations. 

“As we continue to battle this pandemic and advance a national vaccine strategy, it is vital that your platforms—which millions of Americans use on a daily basis—do not spread content that can harm the health of Americans,” the lawmakers wrote. 

Democrats' focus on the issue stands in sharp contrast to the previous administration. Researchers found President Trump was one of the primary drivers of misinformation about the coronavirus. Researchers at Cornell University analyzed 38 million articles about the pandemic, and mentions of Trump made up nearly 38 percent of the overall “misinformation conversation.” 

Tech companies have adopted strict policies against coronavirus vaccine misinformation. 

Facebook, Twitter and Google have taken steps to limit misinformation about the vaccine. But they've repeatedly struggled to enforce their rules on misinformation — and experts warn allowing anti-vaxxers to use their platforms unchecked for so long has now made policing the conversation more difficult. 

Companies are responding with new experiments in content moderation. 

Twitter announced a new fact-checking program yesterday. A pilot program called Birdwatch will let selected users write corrections and fact checks on potentially misleading tweets, my colleague Elizabeth Dwoskin reported. 

And Facebook recently stood up an independent oversight board, which Zuckerberg says will have final say over some of the thorniest issues involving online speech. The company has asked that board — which is made up of independent experts including a former prime minister and a Nobel Peace Prize winner — to decide whether it should restore Trump's account.