'Facebook isn't killing people' — Biden walks back comment over vaccine misinformation

US President Joe Biden has walked back an attack on Facebook after saying the social media giant is killing people by allowing lies to be spread about the coronavirus vaccination.

"Let me say what I said. I'm glad you asked that question," Biden told a reporter at the White House. "It was pointed out that Facebook, of all the misinformation, 60 percent of the misinformation came from 12 individuals. That's what the article said."

He further walked back the comment he had made on Friday, saying "Facebook isn't killing people.”

‘Bad information killing people’

The Democratic leader called on Facebook not to “take it personally” and target those spreading disinformation about the efficacy of vaccines against the Covid-19.

Facebook fires back after Biden said US social media platform ‘killing people’ with vaccine misinformation

Facebook reacts Biden said the US social media platform is "killing people" with misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine.

“These 12 people are out there giving misinformation, anyone listening to it is getting hurt by it. It's killing people. It's bad information," Biden continued. "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."

Biden tacitly dismissed the idea of actually holding Facebook accountable for allowing misinformation on its platform.

"I'm not trying to hold people accountable. I'm trying to make people look at themselves. Look in the mirror. Think about that misinformation going to your son, daughter, your relative, someone you love. That's all I'm asking."

This is while, on Friday, he had clearly asserted that, “they're killing people."

According to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, “simply put, health misinformation has cost us lives.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki also noted that the administration is not at war with Facebook.

"Well, I don't think we've taken any options off the table. That's up to Congress to determine how they want to proceed moving forward, but let me just note that we're not in a war or a battle with Facebook," Psaki said. "We're in a battle with the virus and the problem we're seeing -- that our surgeon general elevated just last week -- is that disinformation traveling through a range of mediums. Some of them are a range of social media platforms, some of them are media, some of them are through the mouths of public officials. That bad information, inaccurate information about vaccines, is killing people.”

While the majority of people in the United States have been vaccinated, vaccine hesitancy remains high as authorities are making efforts to get a hold of the pandemic.

Key figures mostly on the right, notably some supporters of former President Donald Trump are among the top opponents of vaccination.

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