Groups allied with Joe Biden plan to engage fact-checkers and SMS carriers “more aggressively” in an attempt to dispel “vaccine misinformation.” The move is in response to the campaign by Republican politicians and groups opposing the door-to-door vaccine awareness campaign by the Biden administration.
According to a report on Politico, the Biden administration views “conservative opponents of its Covid-19 vaccine campaign as dangerous and extreme.” In response, the administration is “adopting a more aggressive political posture in an attempt to maneuver through the public health conundrum.”
“We are steadfastly committed to keeping politics out of the effort to get every American vaccinated so that we can save lives and help our economy further recover,” White House spokesperson Kevin Munoz said. “When we see deliberate efforts to spread misinformation, we view that as an impediment to the country’s public health and will not shy away from calling that out.”
To push back against the “misinformation” campaign by Republicans, groups affiliated with Biden are considering fact-checking but also getting involved in text messages.
The report by Politico states: “Biden allied groups, including the Democratic National Committee, are also planning to engage fact-checkers more aggressively and work with SMS carriers to dispel misinformation about vaccines that is sent over social media and text messages. The goal is to ensure that people who may have difficulty getting a vaccination because of issues like transportation see those barriers lessened or removed entirely.”
How exactly the groups intend on fact-checking SMS is not clear. Fact-checking social media posts is already considered by many as a repression of free speech as many “fact checkers” are often biased and their funding is often shadowy. Snooping on SMS, which is private, would be considered by most as a gross violation of privacy, if that’s what the plan entails.
