President Biden’s surgeon general wants Big Tech companies to turn over information on how prevalent COVID-19 misinformation is on social networks, search engines, messaging systems and e-commerce sites, and who is consuming it.
The effort by Dr. Vivek Murthy is a continuation of the White House’s grumbles about bogus online information hampering their vaccine drive but is likely to spark cries the administration is overreaching or attempting to cut off unproven COVID-19 treatments that have gained traction in some circles.
Dr. Murthy has given the companies until May 2 to submit data on “exactly how many users saw or may have been exposed to instances of Covid-19 misinformation” and which demographics might have been exposed to the information, The New York Times reported Thursday.
“Technology companies now have the opportunity to be open and transparent with the American people about the misinformation on their platforms,” Dr. Murthy told the Times. “This is about protecting the nation’s health.”
Dr. Murthy has been warning about the harms of bad COVID-19 information online for months. This is the first request for actual data, but there does not appear to be a penalty for noncompliance.
The effort is part of Mr. Biden’s new strategy to manage the virus as something that causes minimal disruption in society.
The surgeon general also wants doctors and health providers to report trends in how COVID-19 misinformation impacts patients.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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