In recent months, Facebook has cracked down on anti-vaccine ads and vaccine misstatements. In October, it said it would no longer allow anti-vaccination ads on its platform. In February, the company went further and said it would remove posts with erroneous claims about vaccines, including claims that the vaccines cause autism or that it is safer for people to contract the coronavirus than to receive the vaccines.
But misinformation online about vaccines has not been eradicated. Lies have been spread that vaccines can alter DNA or that vaccines don’t work.
On Saturday, Rosen said in the blog post that among American Facebook users, vacillation over the vaccine had dropped by 50 percent since April and acceptance of the vaccine had risen 10 to 15 percentage points, or more than 80 percent from 70 percent.
“While social media plays an important role in society, it is clear that we need a society-wide approach to end this pandemic,” Rosen said. “And the facts, not the allegations, should help inform that effort.”
The White House’s frustration with Facebook has been mounting for several months, people with knowledge of the matter have said. While Biden’s management asked Facebook to share information about the spread of misinformation on the social network, the company refused to cooperate, the people said.
On Friday, Robert Flaherty, the White House chief digital officer, said in a tweet: “I think I’m left with a simple question: how many people have seen misinformation about the Covid vaccine on Facebook?”
