Ranking Member Ruiz Presses TikTok on COVID-19 Misinformation

Mar 23, 2023
Press Release

Washington, D.C. (March 23, 2023)—Today, Rep. Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-25), Ranking Member of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, put TikTok CEO Shou Chew in the hot seat when it comes to the platform’s negligence of COVID-19 misinformation. In an Energy & Commerce Committee hearing entitled, “TikTok: How Congress Can Safeguard American Data Privacy and Protect Children from Online Harms,” Ruiz pushed the company to better combat harmful medical misinformation, citing how the platform’s features and algorithm allow for medically inaccurate content to rapidly spread: 

 

“As a doctor and the Ranking Member of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, I am troubled that TikTok is rife with medically inaccurate information—including dangerous misinformation and intentional disinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines,” Ranking Member Ruiz said. TikTok’s Community Guidelines state that the company will remove content or accounts that involve ‘misleading information that causes significant harm’…And despite TikTok’s pledge to address harmful misinformation, these videos are being viewed millions of times.”

 

In a study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a sample of just 124 TikTok videos containing vaccine misinformation were viewed as frequently as 20 million times. This is in addition to a MediaMatters report that identified 18 videos with COVID-19 misinformation that amassed over 57 million views.

 

Ranking Member Ruiz’s remarks can be viewed here.

 

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118th Congress