Pop superstar Selena Gomez took to Twitter on Tuesday to say that “Facebook is going to be responsible for thousands of deaths” after allowing “lies about COVID and vaccines” to spread on its platform.
“Scientific disinformation has and will cost lives. @Facebook said they don’t allow lies about COVID and vaccines to be spread on their platforms,” tweeted Gomez on Tuesday. “So how come all of this is still happening? Facebook is going to be responsible for thousands of deaths if they don’t take action now!”
Scientific disinformation has and will cost lives. @Facebook said they don’t allow lies about COVID and vaccines to be spread on their platforms. So how come all of this is still happening? Facebook is going to be responsible for thousands of deaths if they don’t take action now! https://t.co/IAtDpNT5Tt
— Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) December 30, 2020
Gomez responded to a tweet from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which read, “‘Social media companies say that they’re doing their utmost, but in reality, they’re doing absolutely nothing. Our CEO [Imran Ahmed] for @BBCNews on the spread of vaccine misinformation.”
The Center for Countering Digital Hate’s tweet also included a video featuring Ahmed complaining to BBC News about social media platforms are allegedly “doing absolutely nothing” about misinformation on their platforms.
“We took a thousand bits of misinformation, we got some volunteers to report it using their own systems — the social media platforms’ own reporting systems — less than five percent was taken down,” said Ahmed in the interview. And that’s what happens if you actually check up on them. The truth is that we’ve been gaslit by the social media companies who say they’re doing their upmost, but in reality, they’re doing absolutely nothing.”
The Center for Countering Digital Hate is a London-based nonprofit limited company seeking to strengthen “communities and democracy by disrupting identity-based hate and dangerous misinformation in digital spaces,” according to its website.
Tuesday was not the first time Gomez called out Facebook for allowing people to use the platform as an open forum.
In September, the Fetish singer publicly shared a private message she sent to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, arguing the social media giant has a “serious problem” spreading “hatred and misinformation.”
“Facebook and Instagram are being used to spread hate, misinformation, racism, and bigotry,” said Gomez. “I am calling you both to HELP STOP THIS. Please shut down groups and users focused on spreading hate speech violence and misinformation. Our future depends on it.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.
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