US House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff on Thursday sent letters to the heads of Facebook and Amazon asking them to provide detailed explanation of what they do to mitigate the spread of disinformation about coronavirus vaccines.
"As a Member of Congress who is deeply concerned by the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy during this time of crisis, I request additional, more detailed information on Facebook's policies regarding false or misleading health information in order to identify potential needs for federal regulation," the letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.
Schiff called on Zuckerberg to provide information regarding the criteria the social platform exploits to determine whether misinformation or conspiracy theories are dangerous enough to be removed.
The congressman from California also asked Zuckerberg to provide the actual size of the team that is responsible for moderating content on Facebook and whether the number is sufficient to prevent anti-vaccine content from being published.
With respect to Amazon, Schiff said the company's recommendation systems promote dangerous misinformation on vaccines that may result in over-recommendation of disinformation and conspiracy theories regarding medical items sold online.
Schiff asked Amazon to detail the steps it is taking to ensure that filters and recommendations, including "Amazon's Choice" labels, are not used to promote false health-related information. (ANI/Sputnik)
( With inputs from ANI )
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