'Disinfo Kills': Activists Place Body Bags Near Facebook HQ in DC Protesting Vaccine Misinformation
03:33 GMT 29.07.2021 (Updated: 13:21 GMT 06.08.2022)
© REUTERS / JIM BOURG
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Facebook has already faced accusations from the Biden administration of failing to tackle a misinformation spread via its platform in regard to coronavirus vaccines, with Biden saying that social media are "killing people" due to the spread of false information.
Body bags were placed in front of the Facebook headquarters in Washington DC on Wednesday by a group named "The Real Facebook Oversight Board" in protest against misinformation on coronavirus vaccines that is being spread on social media.
"We placed body bags in front of Facebook HQ in Washington DC to draw attention to dangerous disinfo on Facebook", the group tweeted, attaching pictures of their demonstration. "Facebook will likely report record earnings today. Investors need to ask themselves: what are they getting for their money?"
The group also shared a video, saying that it wants the message about disinformation to be delivered to Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO, and Sheryl Sandberg, the platform's COO.
🚨NEW🚨: Live footage from Facebook’s Washington DC HQ 📽️
— The Real Facebook Oversight Board (@FBoversight) July 28, 2021
We joined forces with local artists to deliver a message to Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg: disinformation kills ☠️
Investors: Consider where your 💰 is going. And at what cost?
NEW Report⬇️https://t.co/UKuXGVS3lQ pic.twitter.com/LYoTj73v0n
TODAY: We placed body bags in front of Facebook HQ in Washington DC to draw attention to dangerous disinfo on Facebook. Facebook will likely report record earnings today. Investors need to ask themselves: what are they getting for their money?
— The Real Facebook Oversight Board (@FBoversight) July 28, 2021
Facebook disinformation kills https://t.co/x2XCZanVtN pic.twitter.com/JZmw3ZPeMY
The performance comes amid Facebook saying on Wednesday that it expects revenue growth to "decelerate significantly, with its shares down 3.5% in extended trading even though "strong ad sales" are reported.
This is not the first time the social media giant has been called out for its role in the COVID-19 pandemic response, as earlier in the month it faced a verbal shot from US President Joe Biden, who said that social networks are "killing people" due to disinformation made available on its platforms.
Facebook denied Biden's assertions, and later the US president backtracked on his statement, clarifying that it was not the social media platform itself "killing people", but the misinformation.
The Real Facebook Oversight Board, in its turn, describes itself as part of a UK non-profit organization 'The Citizens', setting a goal to hold Facebook accountable for its content policies. Amid the DC demonstration, the group also published a 'Q2 Facebook Harms Report', outlining a "serious problem with disinformation hosted on their platform and their active choice not to act on it".
The group also demanded that Facebook disable engagement on "proven disinformation superspreaders" and "uprank quality news sources by reprioritizing reputability in the news algorithm."
