CAGEY

Zuckerberg Keeps Mum on How Many Facebook Users Engaged With COVID-19 Disinfo

Joe Biden said last month that social media platforms were “killing people” by not doing more to combat false information.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg declined to reveal how many users engaged with posts that contained false information about the coronavirus in a Wednesday interview with Gayle King. Zuckerberg claimed the social network had removed 18 million posts that contained false information about COVID-19 but declined to share how many of the site’s nearly three billion users liked or shared the information.

“I understand what you’re saying,“ Zuckerberg told King when pressed on the company's efforts to fight false information. “The number that I have off the top of my head that I can share is the number of pieces of misinformation that we’ve taken action against.” Facebook and other social media platforms have taken backlash as politicians press them to fight false information, especially since the advent of the pandemic and associated vaccine hesitancy. President Joe Biden recently said that social media platforms were “killing people” by spreading false information about the pandemic and vaccines, though he later walked back his comments.