Reps. Auchincloss, Lynch Urge PayPal to Act Against COVID-19 Vaccine Disinformation
On Wednesday, December 15, 2021, Congressman Jake Auchincloss and Congressman Stephen F. Lynch signed a letter to PayPal, with other Democratic members of Congress, in which they urged the corporation to ban the use of its online payment system on websites that perpetuate COVID-19 vaccine and treatment disinformation. Specifically, the letter calls on PayPal to deactivate the accounts of the “Disinformation Dozen.”
The letter states, “We write to express concern about PayPal’s role in the spread of COVID-19 disinformation. . . . We believe PayPal should consider banning the use of its online payments system on websites that perpetuate dangerous lies about COVID-19 treatment and immunization.”
Disinformation can lead to hesitancy to become vaccinated. The Center for Countering Digital Hate which produced the report, Why Platforms Must Act on Twelve Leading Online Anti-Vaxxers, identified twelve actors – the Disinformation Dozen - who are responsible for up to 65 percent of anti-vaccine content. CCDH found that even a small amount of online vaccine misinformation can reduce the number of people willing to get COVID vaccine by up to 8.8 percent. Rep. Auchincloss cites vaccine hesitancy as "a major hindrance" to efforts to contain new variants of COVID-19.
Rep. Auchincloss describes the collaboration on the letter to PayPal with his Massachusetts neighbor, Rep. Stephen Lynch. Both are on the Financial Services Committee. Rep Auchincloss serves as vice-chair of the committee and Rep. Lynch chairs a task force of that same committee.
“Between the two of us, we’ve got a platform," says Rep. Auchincloss. “We wanted to use our platform to push back on financial services companies that are under our remit that we think are aiding and abetting really harmful public health misinformation.”
In other efforts supporting COVID-19 vaccinations, Rep. Auchincloss has also advocated for a “Marshall Plan” for global vaccinations, pushing the Biden Administration to take a leadership position in preventing emergence of new variants of COVID-19 overseas through vaccinations.
In describing conversations with constituents in his district, Rep. Auchincloss states,"People are exhausted. They're sick of the restrictions and they’re sick of bringing COVID into every decision they make in life. And this effort to lead on vaccinating the rest of the world is directly related to finally put[ting] COVID behind us. . . . We’ve got to stop allowing new variants to emerge every three to four months.”
The bottleneck in global vaccinations is no longer production but distribution, says Congressman Auchincloss. He notes the need for creating a “central source of truth” on vaccine saturation rates on a country-by-country basis, in order to determine an accurate picture of vaccine distribution. He would also like to see strong partnerships between private and non-profit sectors for solutions to help with last mile delivery of vaccines.
Source:
Darlene Cancell