President Biden's Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has formally called on tech companies to provide information on sources and the scale of COVID-19 misinformation, The Washington Post has reported. "This is about protecting the nation’s health," he told The Post in a written statement. "Technology companies now have the opportunity to be open and transparent with the American people about the misinformation on their platforms."
Murthy's request pertains to social networks, search engines, crowdsourced platforms, e-commerce and instant messaging companies. To start with, he wants data and analysis on typical vaccine misinformation already identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That includes falsities like "the ingredients in COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous" and "COVID-19 vaccines contain microchips."
The administration seeks to learn how many users have been exposed to such misinformation, and which demographic groups may have been disproportionally affected. On top of that, it's looking for data about the major sources of COVID-19 misinformation, including individuals or businesses that sell unapproved COVID-19 products or services. Tech companies have until May 2nd to comply, though they won't be penalized if they don't. ...
