The Technology 202: Blumenthal slams Facebook and Twitter as ‘worn-out’ after anti-vaxxers targeted pregnant women on social media

“Facebook and Twitter’s playbook is out-of-date, worn-out, and woefully inadequate toward addressing the horrifying abuse and disinformation that continues to spread like wildfire on their platforms,” Blumenthal said in a statement to The Technology 202. 

Blumenthal first contacted the two companies last month, following a report in the Daily Beast about people associated with the anti-vaccine movement attacking pregnant women who posted on social media about receiving immunizations. There was even an instance where the anti-vaxxers falsely claimed a woman suffered a miscarriage after receiving a vaccine. In fact, the woman miscarried a month before she got her shot. 

He called on the companies to outline the specific steps they were taking to address anti-vaccine groups and pressed them to explain how they were dealing with abuse of expecting mothers receiving the vaccine. But instead he said he received only vague responses from the companies, which pointed to general previoys commitments to combating vaccine misinformation. 

“Vague content moderation policies, ineffective fact checking, inconsistent enforcement, and meaningless labels are cold comfort to the women continuously assailed by vile anti-vaccine hate and life-threatening falsehoods,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “I see little in their responses that demonstrates these profitable and powerful companies are going to stop treating victims of this abuse like an afterthought.”

That is creating a major test of Silicon Valley’s promises to spread authoritative information about immunizations. 

People trying to undermine public confidence in vaccines are targeting pregnant women as they’ve been agonizing over whether to get vaccines because there is not yet safety data available about how they affect expecting mothers. With the exception of the smallpox vaccine, immunizations are generally safe for pregnant women and their babies. And experts believe mRNA vaccines, which do not contain live virus, probably would be similar in pregnant and nonpregnant people, my colleague Frances Stead Sellers has reported. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that “people who are pregnant and part of a group recommended to receive the coronavirus vaccine, such as health-care personnel, may choose to be vaccinated.” The CDC also says that “mRNA vaccines are not thought to be a risk to the breastfeeding infant.” The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists similarly says that “[coronavirus] vaccines should not be withheld from pregnant individuals who meet criteria for vaccination.” 

And Anthony S. Fauci, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, said last month that 20,000 pregnant women have been vaccinated without complication. 

Tech companies have developed lists of specific claims they’ll remove. For instance, Facebook will take down posts suggesting that vaccines cause autism or that it’s better to contract the virus than get a vaccine. But it doesn’t have a specific rule to remove posts about pregnant women getting vaccinated. 

Instead the company has started labeling posts that make baseless claims about the connection between the vaccine and miscarriage. For instance, Facebook labeled a video that claimed “Pregnant Vaxxers Experience Miscarriage After Covid Vaccine” with a general label indicating “covid-19 vaccines go through many tests for safety and effectiveness before they’re approved,” citing the World Health Organization. It’s also applied labels from independent fact checkers, who warned miscarriage reports are not proof the vaccines pose a danger to pregnancy. 

Twitter is taking a similar approach, and also applied a label to a tweet claiming that the vaccine was not safe for pregnant women after contacted by The Technology 202. Twitter’s warning directly said the tweet was misleading, and directed people to “find out why health officials consider covid-19 vaccines safe for most people.” 

Blumenthal’s criticism of the companies underscores the growing political pressure on social networks not to be a conduit for misinformation about the coronavirus. 

Lawmakers’ concerns could undermine the public promise  tech giants are making to be part of the vaccination efforts. Blumenthal’s statement came the same day Mark Zuckerberg authored a blog post outlining Facebook’s work to support efforts to end the pandemic, including launching a tool to help people find out where they can get the vaccine. 

The internal memos reveal that Federal Trade Commission lawyers and economic experts made contradictory assumptions, which ultimately turned out to be incorrect about the future of the Internet and Google’s treatment of its rivals, Politico’s Leah Nylen reports. The documents raise questions about whether federal regulators are able to take on tech giants today, even as lawmakers and the Biden administration increase scrutiny of Big Tech. 

The FTC’s predictions missed the mark on where technology was moving:

• The staffers incorrectly assumed there was “limited potential for growth” in ads tracking people across the Internet. Those now drive Alphabet’s $182.5 billion in annual revenue.
• They incorrectly assumed people would primarily use search engines on computers rather than smartphones. Today 62 percent of searches take place on mobile phones and tablets, nearly all of which use Google’s search engine as the default due to partnerships the company struck. 
• They predicted Microsoft, Mozilla or Amazon would compete in mobile operating systems. But Apple and Google continue to dominate mobile phones in the United States. 
• They underestimated Google’s market share, and the power that gave it over rival companies. 

News conglomerate News Corp. and Facebook reached a multiyear agreement that covers the corporation’s major Australian and regional newspapers, the Associated Press’s Rod McGuirk reports. The deal comes as big technology companies, including Google, race to strike agreements with publishers after Australia passed laws that would require the tech giants to contribute to the cost of journalism. 

“The agreement with Facebook is a landmark in transforming the terms of trade for journalism, and will have a material and meaningful impact on our Australian news businesses,” News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson said in a statement. Thompson also thanked Australia for “taking a principled stand for publishers.”

The agreement marks a reversal for Facebook, which initially protested the law by cutting off news pages in the country. The company later restored access after striking a deal with Australia’s government.

Tens of thousands of drivers received at least $80 million from little-known government grant and loan programs, making them among the programs’ largest beneficiaries, Faiz Siddiqui and Andrew Van Dam report. 

The drivers benefited from the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. They qualified because they are classified as independent contractors, a designation that companies such as Uber and Lyft have fought hard to maintain. The SBA released the data after The Washington Post and 10 news organizations filed a federal lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. 

SBA spokeswoman Tiffani Shea Clements said that loans for gig workers identified by The Post made up a tiny fraction of loans and funding provided by the agency. Uber spokesman Matthew Wing pointed to the company’s efforts to support drivers, while Lyft spokeswoman Julie Wood pointed to arguments that the company’s drivers prefer to be classified as independent contractors. 

Hacked data from the social media network shows the site’s popularity spiked in the days following the attacks, as major tech companies cracked down on Parler, another social network favored by conservatives, the Intercept’s Micah Lee reports. An additional 2.4 million Gab accounts were created between Jan. 6 and Feb. 19, up from 1.6 million accounts that Gab had on the day of the insurrection. 

The leaked data was downloaded by activist hackers who breached the site last month. It also shows the sprawling influence of baseless claims on Gab, including those linked to QAnon, an extremist ideology that the FBI has deemed a domestic terrorism threat. 

Accounts whose data was compromised in the hack include Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who spoke positively about QAnon before distancing herself from the movement. Users also sent messages about violence amid the Capitol riot, Lee reports.

The company’s FC Games program, which offers warehouse workers rewards for competing in games to boost efficiency, has been rolled out to the company’s warehouses in 20 states, the Information’s Paris Martineau and Mark Di Stefano report. The expansion comes as the company is increasingly scrutinized for safety practices and its treatment of workers in the warehouses.

One warehouse worker compared the games to “Black Mirror,” a dystopian television show. In one episode of the series, workers ride bicycles to earn credits. Another worker told the Information that some people haven’t played the games because they are concerned that they will hurt themselves by overworking.

“Employees have told us they enjoy having the option to join in these workstation games, and we’re excited to be taking their feedback and expanding the program to even more buildings throughout our network,” said Kent Hollenbeck, an Amazon spokesman. “Even with this expansion, the program remains completely optional for employees; they can switch in or out of different games depending on their preference, can play anonymously, or not play at all — the choice is theirs.” (Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

David Moscrop, a contributing columnist at The Post:

Wirecutter associate staff writer Thom Dunn:

Martineau, who wrote the article:

• President Biden plans to nominate Leslie Kiernan as the Commerce Department’s general counsel and Christopher Fonzone as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s general counsel. Both held positions in the Obama administration.

• Jennifer Bates, who works at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama that is attempting to unionize, testifies at a Senate Budget Committee hearing on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
• Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, speaks at an event on universal broadband hosted by the Internet Innovation Alliance on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
• Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) speak at a 5G event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Thursday at 10 a.m.
• European antitrust official Thomas Kramler, Facebook director for economic policy Phillip Malloch and European lawmaker Andreas Schwab speak at an event hosted by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation on Thursday at 10 a.m. The event will focus on Europe’s Digital Markets Act.
• Acting Federal Trade Commission chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter testifies before a House Judiciary Committee panel’s antitrust hearing on Thursday at 2 p.m.
• Wikimedia Foundation CEO and executive director Katherine Maher speaks at an event hosted by the Center for Global Development on Thursday at 3 p.m.
• The House Energy and Commerce Committee holds a hearing on infrastructure legislation on March 22 at 11 a.m.
• District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals judge Douglas Ginsburg speaks at a NetChoice event on antitrust and the Consumer Welfare Standard on March 22 at noon.

Seth Meyers with this week’s headlines: