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Zuckerberg: Facebook Removed 18M COVID Misinformation Posts

Zuckerberg: Facebook Removed 18M COVID Misinformation Posts
(ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images)

By    |   Wednesday, 18 August 2021 11:16 AM EDT

Facebook has removed 18 million posts containing COVID-19 misinformation, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg, however, would not say how many times those posts were viewed or shared.

"If we see harmful misinformation on the platform, then we take it down. It's against our policy," Zuckerberg told "CBS This Morning" on Wednesday.

"But do we catch everything? Of course, there are mistakes that we make or areas where we need to improve. But that's the best number that we have in terms of what we've seen and what our systems have been able to detect."

Zuckerberg was asked how many people had viewed the misinformation, which could lead to someone's actions.

"I understand what you're saying," Zuckerberg said. "The number that I have off the top of my head that I can share is the number of pieces of misinformation that we've taken action against."

Facebook and other social media platforms have been criticized for spreading misinformation, especially regarding coronavirus.

Even President Joe Biden said last month that Facebook and other platforms were "killing people" by enabling the spread of COVID-19 misinformation. He later explained that he meant the misinformation itself was causing deaths.

"They're killing people. I mean it, really," Biden said. "Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and they're killing people."

He later walked back his criticism that platforms such as Facebook are "killing people."

"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 somehow I'm saying Facebook is killing people, that they would do something about the misinformation. The outrageous misinformation about the vaccine. That's what I meant."

Facebook responded by saying it actually had helped increase vaccine acceptance.

"We will not be distracted by accusations which aren't supported by the facts," Facebook said.

An anonymous Facebook official told NBC News that Biden was using the platform as a "scapegoat" for the administration's own vaccine failures.

"In private exchanges, the Surgeon General has praised our work, including our efforts to inform people about COVID-19," the official told NBC News via Twitter. "They knew what they were doing. The White House is looking for scapegoats for missing their vaccine goals."

Facebook said that as of mid-July, more than 2 billion people viewed "authoritative information" about COVID-19.

About 3.3. million Americans had used the vaccine finder tool to make an appointment to get the shot, the company said.

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US
Facebook has removed 18 million posts containing COVID-19 misinformation, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. Zuckerberg, however, would not say how many times those posts were viewed...
facebook, zuckerberg, covid, misinformation, posts
413
2021-16-18
Wednesday, 18 August 2021 11:16 AM
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