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Selena Gomez believes that Facebook may be responsible for “thousands of deaths” for allegedly spreading misinformation about the new coronavirus.
The 28-year-old pop star accessed Twitter on Tuesday to share a video with Imran Ahmed, the founding CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), who talks to BBC News about how big tech companies are reporting information related to COVID-19.
In the clip shared with Gomez’s account, Ahmed is questioned about Facebook’s previous claim that it removes misinformation “which can lead to physical harm” and about vaccines. He claimed, through the findings of his task force, that companies like Facebook aren’t exactly pulling out as many posts as they claim.
“So, we took 1,000 bits of disinformation. We managed to get some volunteers to report them using their own systems … Less than 5% have been withdrawn, ”said Ahmed. “And this is what happens when you actually check them out. The truth is that we have been enlightened by social media companies that say they are doing their best, but in fact they are doing absolutely nothing.”
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Gomez, whose Twitter account has 64 million followers, called Facebook to make sure he’s keeping an eye on what’s being said on his platform.
“Scientific misinformation has cost and will cost lives. @Facebook said they don’t allow lies about COVID and vaccines to spread on their platforms. So how is all this still going on?” Gomez tweeted.
The “Lose You to Love Me” singer continued: “Facebook will be responsible for thousands of deaths if they don’t act now!”
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The Center for Countering Digital Hate applauded Gomez for joining the “outrage” against Facebook for allegedly “profiting from prolonging the pandemic”.
A Facebook spokesman, however, said the company is committed to communicating correct facts related to the COVID-19 vaccines.
“We are committed to reaching as many people as possible with accurate vaccine information, and we have partnered with WHO and Unicef to do just that. We prohibit ads that discourage people from getting vaccines and reduce the number of people who see rumors. vaccines verified by WHO and CDC, “said the statement on behalf of the social media platform.
He continues: “We also label pages and groups that repeatedly share rumors about vaccines, cut their posts on the news feed and do not recommend them to anyone. We continue to remove accounts and content that violate our policies and we are the only company we work with over 80 fact verification organizations worldwide. “
In July, Facebook created a section in its COVID-19 Information Center called “Facts about COVID-19”, in which the World Health Organization “would unmask common myths about the pandemic”.
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At the time, a Facebook spokesman told FOX Business that the company “has been connecting people with reliable information about COVID since January” and the information center has been online since March. Facebook said his efforts connected 2 billion people to information from health officials.
Likewise, reports earlier this month claim that the social media giant is changing its hate speech algorithms to prioritize the removal of posts targeted at minority groups. The initiative, dubbed the WoW Project, aims to improve Facebook’s automated systems that immediately locate and exclude hate speech and racial slurs, which are banned on the website, The Washington Post reported, citing internal documents.