Feed: Slashdot Title: Misinformation from a Dozen State Attorneys General Author: msmash Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2021 07:21:00 -1000 Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/03/24/1657205/facebook-and-twitter-must-do-more-to-fight-anti-vaccine-misinformation-a-dozen-state-attorneys-general-demand?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed A coalition of 12 state attorneys general on Wednesday sent a letter to Facebook and Twitter, pressing them to do more to ensure online falsehoods aren't undermining efforts to vaccinate the public against covid-19. From a report: Connecticut Attorney General William Tong (D) and 11 other Democratic state attorneys general called Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to "take immediate steps" to fully enforce their policies against vaccine misinformation. The attorneys general say the companies have not cracked down hard enough on prominent anti-vaccine accounts that repeatedly violate the companies' terms of service. They also say that falsehoods about the safety of coronavirus vaccines from a small pool of individuals has reached over 59 million followers on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, citing data from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which studies online misinformation and disinformation. They sent the letter the day before Zuckerberg, Dorsey, and Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai are expected to testify in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The hearing is broadly focused on disinformation, and lawmakers and their staff have been in communication with leaders of Anti-Vax Watch, a collection of people and organizations concerned about vaccine disinformation. [image 2][2] [image 4][4] Read more of this story[5] at Slashdot. Links: [1]: http://twitter.com/home?status=Facebook+and+Twitter+Must+Do+More+To+Fight+Anti-Vaccine+Misinformation%2C+a+Dozen+State+Attorneys+General+Demand%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F31fH6LG (link) [2]: https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (image) [3]: http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F21%2F03%2F24%2F1657205%2Ffacebook-and-twitter-must-do-more-to-fight-anti-vaccine-misinformation-a-dozen-state-attorneys-general-demand%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook (link) [4]: https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (image) [5]: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/03/24/1657205/facebook-and-twitter-must-do-more-to-fight-anti-vaccine-misinformation-a-dozen-state-attorneys-general-demand?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed (link)