Facebook refutes President Biden’s claim, says US shouldn’t be blamed for failing to meet vaccine targets

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President Joe Biden said on Friday that social media networks were killing people by spreading misinformation about coronavirus vaccines.

What Happened: Facebook, Inc (NASDAQ: FB) defended itself on Saturday against President Joe Biden’s remarks that social media platforms are killing people by allowing Covid vaccine misinformation to proliferate on their services, reports Reuters.

In a blog post, Facebook Vice President Guy Rosen said President Bidens’ target was for 70% of Americans to be vaccinated by July 4. Facebook is not the reason this goal was missed.

The data shows that 85% of Facebook users in the United States have been or wish to be vaccinated against COVID-19, Rosen said.

Facebook’s response comes after the president was asked what his message was to companies like Facebook regarding Covid disinformation. Biden replied: They kill people.

I mean they really, look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and that’s they’re killing people, the president said.

Facebook has introduced rules against specific misrepresentation about COVID-19 and vaccines against the virus. Instead, the company says it provides people with reliable information on these topics.

Why it matters: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths from Covid-19 are on the rise again in the United States, as the delta variant largely affects unvaccinated pockets across the country.

Since the pandemic hit the United States, disinformation about Covid 19 has spread across various social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) and Alphabet Incs (NASDAQ: GOOGL) YouTube.

Many researchers and lawmakers across the country have long accused Facebook of failing to control harmful content on its platforms.

Covid 19 cases in the United States are up 70% from the previous week and deaths are up 26%, with outbreaks occurring in parts of the country with low vaccination rates.

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