Selena Gomez is a pop star who is rare in more ways than one. Tonight, the young singer took to Twitter to criticize Facebook for the rampant disinformation that exists on the platform.
In particular, she’s concerned about the lies and false information that are being spread about vaccines, just as the COVID-19 vaccine is beginning to get distribution in the United States. “Scientific disinformation has and will cost lives,” she wrote in a tweet. “@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!”
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
Below her comments, Selena shared the following tweet from the Center For Countering Digital Hate, whose CEO, Imran Ahmed, was on BBC News talking about this issue.
"Social media companies say that they're doing their utmost, but in reality, they're doing absolutely nothing."
Our CEO @Imi_Ahmed for @BBCNews on the spread of vaccine misinformation. pic.twitter.com/asFj5JL4wi
— Center for Countering Digital Hate (@CCDHate) December 29, 2020
“We took a thousand bits of misinformation and got volunteers to report it using the platform’s own reporting systems,” Ahmed said on BBC. “And less than 5% of it was taken down. The truth is we’ve been gaslit by the social media companies, they say they’re doing their utmost. But in reality, they’re doing absolutely nothing.”
Hopefully whistleblowers like Ahmed — and celebrities using their platforms like Selena — will help draw more attention to this issue so can realize that vaccines are safe and will help us return to normalcy.
