Ed. note: The campaign of misinformation from foreign outlets and leaders regarding COVID-19 continues to alarm U.S. leaders, while their requests that Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms tighten policies regarding misinformation from Chinese Communist Party leaders have been largely met with resistance. Republican House and Senate leaders have not only asked social media to block such content, but last week, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to increase the State Department’s efforts to counter disinformation and to brief Congress on the CCP’s disinformation activities. Read more coverage from The Hill:
House Republican urges Pompeo to take steps to limit misinformation from China on coronavirus
An excerpt:
“The CCP’s information warfare against the United States on coronavirus and other matters underscores the Department’s counter disinformation and public diplomacy efforts are more important than ever,” McCaul wrote.The letter to Pompeo was sent on the heels of a separate one McCaul sent to the CEOs of Google, Amazon, Twitter and Facebook earlier this week, in which he called on the social media platforms to ban all CCP media outlets and their officials from posting due to the disinformation they spread, as well as Beijing recently expelling American journalists in China.