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Schrier calls out vaccine misinformation on Facebook, Twitter

April 9, 2021

Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.), a pediatrician, said she has witnessed firsthand the swirling misinformation about coronavirus vaccines on social media.

When she posted about a vaccines act she introduced, comments popped up on her Facebook page threatening her and spreading false claims about harms associated with vaccines.

Most of the concerning comments seemed to come from two Facebook Groups that directed its members toward her post, Schrier said.

"So while the overt threats are unsettling, particularly after Jan. 6, I think about this whole ecosystem, your ecosystem, that directs a hostile sliver of society, en masse, to my official Facebook page," she said to Zuckerberg.

He acknowledged that the vaccine misinformation is an important issue and that the enforcement process can be difficult. The Post reported this month that Facebook is conducting a huge study of doubts expressed by U.S. users about vaccines.