White House calls on social media companies to be ‘held accountable’ for Covid disinformation – live | US News

Mandela barnes, lieutenant-governor of Wisconsin, announced today that he is a candidate Senate, joining a field crowded with Democrats vying for the seat.

“Hard-working families deserve every opportunity, but politicians like the senator Ron johnson don’t deliver, ”Barnes tweeted. “Instead of changing our dreams, we need to change the game.”

Barnes, with the governor Tony evers, narrowly beat outgoing Republicans Scott walker and Rebecca Kleefisch in 2018, a significant victory for Democrats during Donald trump presidency.

While Republican Johnson did not say that if he plans to get re-elected, that seat would be an important victory in securing a majority in a 50-50 Senate for Democrats – especially since Joe biden won Wisconsin.

After a fall yesterday sparked by concerns about the spread of the Delta variant, actions open higher on Wall Street today the Associated Press reports:

• The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to start, a day after its biggest drop since May
• The yield on the 10-year Treasury bill fell to 1.14%, its lowest level since February
• Hospital operator HCA Healthcare surged after posting strong quarter
• IBM rose after reporting higher than expected revenue
• Crude oil prices have fallen further

Secretary of State Antoine Blinken appointed the president Porfirio Lobo Sosa, former first lady Rosa Elena Bonilla Avila and their immediate family ineligible for entry into the United States for their alleged involvement in Corruption.

State Department alleges President accepted bribes from drug trafficking organization Los Cachiros in exchange for political favors, while his ex-wife engaged in fraud and embezzled funds for his benefit as first lady.

In case you missed it, Senate Majority Leader Chuck schumer deposit fencing yesterday the bipartite infrastructure plan, which means that the Senate will vote on Wednesday on whether to open the debate on the agreement negotiated between Republicans, Democrats and Joe biden to strengthen the country’s roads, bridges, public transport and broadband.

Small reminder because let’s face it, it’s very confusing: we currently have before us two bills on infrastructure: the bipartite bill and the $ 3.5 billion reconciliation invoice which focuses on “human infrastructure” such as social services and environmental measures.

Republicans are upset because they feel that after negotiating the bipartisan bill, Democrats approached the reconciliation bill as a comprehensive deal. They also balk at the overall size of the reconciliation bill.

So, something that had apparently been fully negotiated is now linked to the negotiations again: The bipartisan group behind the bipartisan deal spent the weekend trying to fill a $ 100 billion hole that arose after the Republicans found another problem.

So the closing. Democrats would like to turn their attention to the reconciliation bill. Republicans, however, are not happy to rush the bipartisan bill.

Schumer needs 60 votes to close and start the debate. senatorial minority whip John Thune says Politico, “He won’t be 60, let’s put it that way. The legislation is not drafted, the pay-fors are far away. Patience is going to be a virtue.

Schumer, however, had the support of the White House.

Ah, there, liveblog readers. Good Tuesday.

Yesterday Joe biden returned to some of his criticisms of Facebook, saying he never meant “Facebook kills people” when it comes to spreading misinformation around Covid vaccines.

Later, the White House press secretary Jen psaki clarified a bit further, but didn’t quite let the social media giant get away with it: “Our fight is not with one social media platform. It’s with the virus, “she said.” We have a role, everyone has a role, in the fight against disinformation … In terms of control if there have been measures that have been taken, there is anything you can assess … do you have access from these companies on who is getting the wrong information? I don’t think that information has been disclosed.

Today, the director of communications for the White House Kate bedingfield continued Morning Joe to talk more about the spread of disinformation on social media. “At the moment, it is a pandemic of unvaccinated: 99.5% of people hospitalized or deceased from this virus are not vaccinated,” Bedingfield said in an interview with Mika Brzezinski.

Brzezinski asked Bedingfield about article 230 of Communications Decency Act, which exempts the platforms from any legal liability for the content generated by its users.

“Shouldn’t social media platforms be held accountable in a real way, shouldn’t they be responsible for posting this information and open to prosecution?” Brzezinski asked.

“We are looking into this, and certainly they should be held responsible, and I think you heard President talk very aggressively about it, ”Bedingfield said. “He understands that this is an important part of the ecosystem. “

She continued, “It is also the responsibility of the people who create the content. There is conservative media who create irresponsible content that shares wrong information about the virus that is shared on these platforms. It’s a large and complicated ecosystem and everyone has a responsibility to make sure that we don’t give people the wrong information about a vaccine that will save their lives. ”