U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a request Thursday for information surrounding alleged COVID-19 misinformation from Big Tech companies, community organizations, and healthcare providers.
“Misinformation has had a profound impact on COVID-19 and our response,” Murthy told CNN on Thursday, confirming that he sent a letter to those groups. “Studies have demonstrated that the vast majority of the American public either believes common myths about COVID-19 or thinks those myths might be true. And many of those include myths around the COVID-19 vaccine, so we’ve seen firsthand how misinformation is harming people’s health when it comes to COVID.”
The notice asks the companies to provide “exactly how many users saw or may have been exposed to instances of COVID-19 misinformation,” according to The New York Times. Murthy confirmed the contents of the letter to the news outlet.
The Surgeon General in July 2021 issued an advisory calling COVID-19-related “misinformation” an “urgent threat” in a bid to put public pressure on social media platforms to monitor it.
Hellbound and Down 