Dem Sen. Luján: We Need ‘Oversight’ or ‘Regulatory Treatment to Stop the Spread of Misinformation’ Because It’s ‘Killing People’

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Ayman Mohyeldin Reports,” Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) stated that there need to be “tougher efforts made, whether it’s oversight, regulatory treatment to stop the spread of misinformation. Because I do agree that it is killing people.”

Host Chris Jansing asked, “Let me ask you in our final minute about those very strong comments we just heard from the president that disinformation on social media, like Facebook, is killing people. Obviously, he was talking in relation to disinformation about the coronavirus. Is it time for the Senate, is it time for Congress to sit down and do something and to make some changes, have more aggressive regulations? What’s the answer here?”

Luján responded, “Chris, it is absolutely irresponsible for every one of the social media platforms and news networks that are allowing this misinformation to continue to spread, and not just on English-language news, but also on Spanish-language social media efforts as well as networks.”

After Luján talked about a hearing he chaired on the subject, Jansing asked, “The question is what do you do about it? Because there have been a lot of hearings about what to do about social media and the negative impact of it, but what is going to get done about it?”

Luján answered, “So, myself and Sen. Klobuchar have called out social media platforms, the eleven leading efforts that are out there spreading this misinformation, to pull them in and to get them to stop. And I would agree with assessments that there [need] to be tougher efforts made, whether it’s oversight, regulatory treatment to stop the spread of misinformation. Because I do agree that it is killing people. This needs to stop.”

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