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Facebook said Thursday it would remove posts containing claims about Covid-19 vaccines that have been discredited by public health experts, as the social network acts more aggressively to combat misinformation about the coronavirus as falsehoods run rampant. .
The move goes one step beyond how Facebook had handled misinformation about other types of vaccines. Previously, the company had made it difficult to find vaccine misinformation that was not related to coronavirus by “downgrading” it, essentially making it less visible in people’s news.
But Facebook said it planned to completely remove the Covid-19 vaccine falsehoods if the claims had been discredited or contradicted by health groups such as the World Health Organization, the United States Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Disease Control and Prevention.
“This is another way that we are applying our policy to remove misinformation about the virus that could cause imminent physical harm,” the company said in a blog post. “This could include false claims about the safety, efficacy, ingredients, or side effects of vaccines.”
Facebook added that it would also remove “false claims that Covid-19 vaccines contain microchips or anything else that is not on the official vaccine ingredient list.”
The social network has long hesitated to get into the tense space of determining what information is true or false on its platform. Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, has made it clear that he “does not want to be the arbiter of the truth” of what is published on the site.
But Zuckerberg has also played an active role in fighting the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus. Facebook has created new products and tools to inform the public about the potential dangers of the virus. Zuckerberg emailed Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease expert, as early march to offer your help in the fight against the virus. Since then, Dr. Fauci has appeared in multiple live Facebook interviews with Mr. Zuckerberg.
Due to the novelty of Covid-19 vaccines, not all false claims can be removed immediately, Facebook said. The social network said it also plans to continue to send people to its Covid-19 Information Center, which contains verified and updated information about the virus.
Facebook’s decision to remove vaccine-related misinformation is not without precedent. The company previously removed misinformation about the polio vaccine in Pakistan as well as misinformation about the measles vaccine in Samoa during outbreaks of the disease.
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