Report: Biden administration is working with social media giants to curtail spread of vaccine ‘misinformation’

While Donald Trump promised to crack down on big-tech interference in communications, Joe Biden’s White House is taking a very different approach.

Reuters reported over the weekend that the Biden White House is quietly partnering with Facebook and Twitter to clamp down on anti-vaccine communication and information on the platforms.

Vaccine “hesitancy”

What started as a campaign to combat “misinformation” related to the election and COVID-19 is rapidly extending into other areas such as general health information, once again raising concerns that these so-called platforms are acting more like publishers.

Throughout the vaccine development process, some have expressed hesitancy to get the inoculation due to the short time it took to develop the vaccine as well as the potential for unknown side effects.

Biden’s White House views this “hesitancy” as unacceptable in its quest to get 100 percent of the nation vaccinated, blaming uncontrolled social media communications as the culprit.

According to a source close to the White House, “disinformation that causes vaccine hesitancy is going to be a huge obstacle to getting everyone vaccinated and there are no larger players in that than the social media platforms.”

“We are talking to them,” referring to Silicon Valley social media giants, “so they understand the importance of misinformation and disinformation and how they can get rid of it quickly,” the anonymous source added.

The White House has zeroed in on events such as an independently organized vaccine protest organized on Facebook as the type of “misinformation” that must be cracked down upon.

Controlling communication

This White House decision comes as a larger debate about big tech’s role in controlling the communication of users on their platforms continues to rage.

The desire for control over the communications of Americans is growing as Democrat-sympathetic social media giants and the Biden administration face few obstacles in their mutual goals.

So-called “independent fact-checkers” — shadowy individuals that are not experts in the fields they are censoring — have been turned loose on platforms like Facebook and Twitter since the outset of COVID-19 to keep conversations in check and to prevent Americans from sharing information that isn’t approved by the government — no matter the source.

Celebrity doctor Drew Pinsky spoke out against the censorship of those that don’t toe the line after one of his own Youtube interviews with another physician discussing COVID-19 was taken down, tweeting last week:

Physicians are easily frightened, whether by liability, ruined reputation, and now they’re frightened to even talk about their own profession! We must return to openly discussing medicine and science. That’s what science is all about!

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