Facebook to Remove Covid-19 Vaccine Misinformation From Platforms
December 03 2020 - 12:42PM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah E. Needleman
Facebook Inc. updated its misinformation policy around the
coronavirus crisis to include vaccine-related content, as the
company looks to continue its fight against claims that it isn't
doing enough to protect its billions of users.
The social-networking giant said Thursday that over the coming
weeks it would start removing false claims and conspiracy theories
about Covid-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health
experts on Facebook and Instagram.
"This is another way that we are applying our policy to remove
misinformation about the virus that could lead to imminent physical
harm, " Facebook said in a blog post, adding that the effort will
take time to implement and may change based on guidance from
public-health authorities.
The company said the policy update reflects anticipation of
vaccines becoming available soon. Earlier this week the U.K. became
the first Western nation to grant emergency-use authorization for a
Covid-19 vaccine. A shot developed by Pfizer Inc. and Germany's
BioNTech SE could be distributed in limited quantities
imminently.
Facebook has come under fire in recent years by government
agencies, politicians and others for its handling of the spread of
misinformation. With additional Covid-19 vaccines expected to gain
approval from regulators world-wide, the company is sharpening its
focus on public health-related misinformation. Health experts say
inoculations are critical to help end the pandemic, yet surveys
show many people are hesitant or opposed to getting vaccinated.
In April, NewsGuard, a group that rates news sites based on
trustworthiness of information, accused Facebook of promoting bogus
cures for the coronavirus and conspiracy theories about its
origins. For example, millions of Facebook users were touting high
doses of vitamin C and silver particles as able to cure the virus,
according to NewsGuard. Neither treatment has been scientifically
proven to work.
At the time, a Facebook spokeswoman said the company had removed
hundreds of thousands of pieces of harmful misinformation and
applied warning labels from independent fact-checkers to 40 million
posts in the month of March alone. She also said Facebook was
distributing authoritative health information across its apps and
directing its users to appropriate resources.
More recently the company removed a post in October by President
Trump that played down the deadliness of Covid-19. The move created
turmoil among political circles as Mr. Trump has repeatedly argued
that Facebook unfairly censors conservative voices.
Facebook has said it added warning labels to about 167 million
pieces of false Covid-19-related content on its flagship platform
and Instagram between March and October, based on research by its
independent fact-checking partners.
--Robert McMillan contributed to this article.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 03, 2020 12:27 ET (17:27 GMT)
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