Familiar with backlash from conservatives in regard to "shadow-banning" and "silencing" their voices, mainstream social media platforms rarely see this kind of thing from the Democrats, but on Thursday, US President Joe Biden appeared to deliver a rare verbal shot against social media - and received support from many netizens.
"They're killing people", Biden said, responding to a question from a reporter about false and misleading information about coronavirus vaccines on social media. "The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated."
Shortly after this remark, hashtag #DeleteFacebook skyrocketed to Twitter trends, with users slamming the social media platform as contributing to misinformation - particularly in light of US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki earlier taking verbal shots at social media disinformation as well.
Many attacked other social media platforms.
Some noted that they had "deleted Facebook" long ago.
According to The Verge, Facebook, following the president's remarks, said that it "will not be distracted by accusations which aren’t supported by the facts."
“The fact is that more than 2 billion people have viewed authoritative information about COVID-19 and vaccines on Facebook, which is more than any other place on the internet. More than 3.3 million Americans have also used our vaccine finder tool to find out where and how to get a vaccine", a Facebook spokesperson said, cited by the outlet. "The facts show that Facebook is helping save lives. Period."