Senator Menendez Letter: Facebook fails to address anti-vax content created by loophole allowing unchecked spread of dangerous health misinformation that puts lives at risk

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee that sets national health policy, today sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pressing the social media giant to reconsider its political speech policy permitting unfettered dissemination of blatantly false and misleading health claims that can put lives at risk. This letter follows the Senator’s continued efforts Facebook to address the presence of deliberately misleading anti-vaccine content that was allowed to run on its platform, while it simultaneously blocked official information posted by public health organizations and medical experts.

“I urge you to take immediate responsibility for your platform’s ongoing role in promoting harmful lies that negatively impact Americans’ health and well-being,” Sen. Menendez wrote to Zuckerberg after Facebook failed to adequately respond to repeated attempts by the Senator’s staff to get answers, and recent news reports raised even more questions.

A report by The Daily Beast concluded Facebook has continued to allow anti-vaccination ads to flourish on the site and erroneously removed numerous legitimate public health ads about vaccines.

Earlier this year, Sen. Menendez questioned misleading anti-vaccine available on Facebook months after the platform announced it would no longer allow ads or recommendations promoting anti-vaccine material.

“As you are already well aware, our nation is in the midst of a dangerous resurgence of measles and an increase in other diseases that are preventable by vaccines,” the letter continued. “This public health crisis has been fueled, in part, by misinformation about vaccine safety spread via Facebook ads.”

Beyond vaccines content, Sen. Menendez raised specific questions on whether Facebook’s policy on political speech would allow the spread of misinformation on other health issues, such as false claims linking abortions to increase risk of breast cancer, suicide, or infertility.

“The fact-checking process, which is meant to staunch the flow of false news on your platform, contains a curious loophole exclusively for politicians,” the senator added in his letter to Zuckerberg. “Given the tenor of our political times and the public health challenges we face, I fear that politicians could use this loophole to spread health misinformation.”

The full text of the letter can be found below.

FINAL 11 14 19 Menendez Letter to Facebook about Anti Vaccine Ads
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6 COMMENTS

  1. I happen to be a pro-vaxxer, but Menendez’s move is very alarming.

    Who determines what is ‘fact’ and what is ‘fake news?’

    Can the government decide tomorrow that all posts which refute evolution be banned?

    How about Metzitza b’peh?

    Where does this end?

    Democrats use every opportunity to strip citizens of their ‘G-d given rights.’ Oh, I forgot! They don’t believe in Him either…

  2. dangerous precedent to have government officials requesting censorship. Doesn’t matter what side of the discussion you are on, free speech is a fundamental key to a free society. Once you have senators censoring what can and can’t be said you are no longer in a free society.

    And don’t try the clear and present danger argument because there have been un-vaccinated people since vaccines were invented and yet there is no scientific proof that they have caused deaths … remember correlation does not equal causation, you need to have specific scientific proof showing causation – correlation is not enough according to all the doctors that say that vaccines are safe – therefore using that argument there is no clear and present danger and consequently there should be no censorship.

    • He is a Democrat, it is part of their plan to control and censor information that does not fit their narrative, plain and simple.
      Remember Democrats know whats best for us, not us.

  3. interesting that you’re article leave out key abortion questions that were raised in the letter. I suspect that TLS joined the ranks of the Baby Murderers.

  4. Censorship doesn’t equal to truth.

    If the truth lays in vaccines, then they can afford to be transparent.

    I can vouch that once they show the studies done through a placebo study there won’t be any anti-vaxxers.

    The question we should ask ourselves, is why are they so scared of the lunatics spreading information?? You can still purchase Mein Kampf and find info. on how to make an atom bomb and even worse.
    I guess our democratic country allows us to choose whether we want to create something that leads to a mass destruction, but doesn’t give us the choice of what we want to inject in our bodies.

    Their methodology has actually made many more people question vaccines.

Comments are closed.