The White House said Wednesday President Joe Biden supported social media companies banning more content considered “untrustworthy” on their platforms.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to say during the daily press briefing if Biden supported social media companies continuing to ban former President Trump from their platforms, but she did reiterate Biden’s support for more censorship.
She said Biden believes that social media companies have the “responsibility” to block questionable content.
“His view is that there is more that needs to be done to ensure that this type of misinformation, disinformation, damaging, sometimes life-threatening information is not going out to the American public,” she said.
Psaki singled out content questioning the results of elections, the fight to stop the spread of the coronavirus, and the effort to get Americas vaccinated as “misinformation” that should be scrutinized.
“The president’s view is that the major platforms have a responsibility related to the health and safety of all Americans, to stop amplifying untrustworthy content, disinformation, and misinformation, especially related to COVID-19, vaccinations, and elections,” she said.
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden enjoyed several attempts by social media companies to block damaging stories about him and his family from spreading online.
When asked about concerns that social media companies were not honoring the First Amendment value of free speech, Psaki suggested it did not apply to online “misinformation.”
“Well look, I think we are, of course, a believer in First Amendment rights,” she said. “I think what the decisions are that the social media platforms need to make is how they address the disinformation, misinformation, especially related to life-threatening issues, like COVID-19 and vaccinations that continue to proliferate on their platforms.”
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