Protesters Lay Bodybags Outside Facebook DC HQ to Demonstrate Deadly Effects of Misinformation
Photo credit: Loic Venance, Getty Images
Protestors have demonstrated distrust and animus towards Facebook by laying blue body bags outside the tech giant’s Washington DC headquarters.
This comes as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on and continues to disrupt Americans’ normal way of life due to a continued battle with information and misinformation surrounding mitigation efforts and vaccines.
The White House has been trying to tackle the Covid-19 and vaccine misinformation on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. President Joe Biden, as well as infectious disease expert Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, have claimed that Facebook’s mismanagement of the misinformation surrounding the pandemic is “killing people.”
Due to these comments from the last few weeks, protestors have taken it upon themselves to lay bodybags outside Facebook’s Washington DC headquarters. The bodybags represent the dead bodies of those misinformed due to what they read on Facebook’s platforms.
? @jimbourg / @Reuters
h/t @eculliford pic.twitter.com/x716K95rCt— The Real Facebook Oversight Board (@FBoversight) July 28, 2021
This comes as it has been reported that over 200 groups on Facebook have actively (and successfully) been spreading misinformation surrounding the pandemic and vaccine.
Facebook has adamantly insisted that they have been working to combat the misinformation, stating that they’ve removed 18 million misinforming posts regarding the pandemic since the pandemic began.
While this may be true, misinformation still influences a large section of the American population, especially when these platforms are contributing heavily to vaccine hesitancy.
Government officials are saying Facebook must take more initiative in weeding out these kinds of posts as the Delta variant begins to take hold, especially among communities heavily influenced by misinformation.
