Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat, said Sunday that social media companies bear responsibility for Americans’ reluctance to get COVID-19 vaccines.
Ms. Klobuchar told CNN that Congress needs to stop relying on tech platforms like Facebook to govern themselves and the federal government needs to take action cracking down on tech.
“The guy down the street tells me his mother-in-law won’t get a vaccine because she read on social media that it would implant a microchip in her arm,” said Ms. Klobuchar on CNN. “We know that the majority of the people that aren’t getting vaccines read stuff on these platforms.”
The Minnesota Democrat said new privacy legislation and updating ‘competition policy,’ meaning changing antitrust law, are among the answers she views as helping to solve the problems she thinks Facebook and other platforms pose.
“I’m just tired of hearing ‘trust us,’ and it’s time to protect those moms and dads that have been struggling with their kids getting addicted to these platforms and been exposed to all kinds of bad stuff,” said Ms. Klobuchar on CNN.
Facebook has supported new regulatory action. On Sunday, Facebook executive Nick Clegg told ABC that his company was relying on the U.S. government to make changes affecting how his company operates.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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