UK home secretary wants social media sites to remove vaccine misinformation

U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel has asked social media platforms to “take responsibility” and remove vaccine misinformation on their sites.

In an interview with the Times on Thursday, Patel said companies like Facebook and Twitter had a “social responsibility” not to host or publish false information.

Her comments come amid growing concerns over a higher level of vaccine skepticism among Black, Asian and ethnic minority groups in the U.K. Patel told the Times that social media companies were failing these communities.

Platforms “should be working hard with us as well to pull down anything that is misleading, disinformation and misinformation,” she said.

“Information that comes straight out of the NHS is still the most trusted information source about the vaccine, which is great,” she added. “So I’d say to social media companies, ‘Do your own bit, take responsibility, pull down misinformation and disinformation’ and there’s no harm in them actually linking a lot of their stuff to the NHS and Gov.uk.”

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