Surgeon General: Big Tech CEOs aren't 'bad people'
In a new interview with Yahoo Finance senior reporter Anjalee Khemlani, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy discussed misinformation on big tech and a possible carveout in Section 230 to make big tech companies like Facebook and Twitter liable for health misinformation on their platform.
Video transcript
VIVEK H. MURTHY: Based on our shared ethnic background, you and I both probably have family members who are on WhatsApp groups with friends back, you know, halfway across the world and family members. And there may be misinformation transacted on those threads. I've had many occasions where my parents, for example, have showed me a video that was sent to them from a relative in the United States or in India on a WhatsApp thread. And it turns out to be completely not factual and inaccurate. And I've had to say, hey, that's not true.
But one of the things I laid out, in fact, in July, when I issued the first surgeon general's advisory on the dangers of health misinformation, is that to truly tackle misinformation requires everybody, it requires individuals to be more thoughtful about what we are sharing and to raise our bar so that if we're not sure something is coming from a credible scientific source, don't share it. It requires government to step up and to do more.
It requires health care providers to take a more active role in talking to their patients about misinformation, but it also requires technology companies to step up and take some responsibility for the extraordinarily harmful misinformation that's being transacted on their site. Look, I don't think that the people who run most of these technology platforms are bad people who are trying to cause harm. You know, I've had conversations with many of them. And, you know, we agree that it's important that people get access to accurate information.
But what is not OK is for the companies to allow the continued proliferation of this misinformation while take only half measures to address it. This is costing us lives. It's costing people their health in the middle of the worst pandemic we've seen in our lifetimes. And I think companies have a moral responsibility to step up, to do the right thing, and to protect people from the terrible harms of misinformation.
ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Well, it's definitely a combination, you know, real talk, of not just tech companies, but also media companies. And we know that this country is extremely divided right now. And we see that every day, just the announcement recently of former President Trump starting a new platform. So I wonder, is there not something that can be done broadly at the federal level? I know that there's been discussion about maybe, like, a carve-out in Section 230. Senator Amy Klobuchar, for example, has been backing that. Do you support something like that as a tool that can be used to help with the accountability?
VIVEK H. MURTHY: Well, there certainly are legislative options that legislators are looking at. As surgeon general, I don't craft legislation or pass bills or laws, but I know that the legislative branch has been looking at some of those.
And here's what I would say across the board. Given the pernicious effects of health misinformation, we should keep all options on the table as we look to how to address this, because what could be more important than our health and our lives? And when you see children in particular, young people being misled by misinformation and being led to take decisions that are counter to their own stated interests because of misinformation they've seen, you start to realize we've got an extraordinary problem in our hands.
Look, the misinformation is not new. Anjalee, you and I know that people have been spreading misinformation for generations, right? But here's what's different. It's the speed, the scale, and the sophistication with which this misinformation is spreading. And you're absolutely right that it's not just about technology platforms, right?
We know the media companies have a really important role that they can play. And their role is even more important than ever, just given how many people are still getting their information from traditional media channels. So we all have a role to play here. It's got to be an all out society response, but it's also got to be an issue we take on with urgency, given the toll.
