facebook says it will remove more covid-19 conspiracies that discourage vaccination
Combating Vaccine Misinformation Online
The proliferation of inaccurate information regarding vaccines predates the current pandemic. However, actively suppressing anti-scientific conspiracies online is now exceptionally important. This is due to the global effort to control a virulent and evolving virus.
Expanded Facebook Policies
Facebook has announced an expansion of its policies concerning the removal of demonstrably false claims about vaccines. These updated rules, developed in collaboration with organizations such as the World Health Organization, will govern content shared on the platform.
Specifically, posts asserting the ineffectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines will be removed. Additionally, claims suggesting it is “safer to contract the disease” than to be vaccinated will also be targeted. The long-discredited assertion linking vaccines to autism will similarly be addressed.
Enforcement and Account Removal
Facebook intends to concentrate its enforcement efforts on Pages, groups, and individual accounts that repeatedly violate these guidelines. Persistent breaches of the policy may result in complete removal from the platform.
Previous Measures and Ongoing Challenges
Initial steps to curtail COVID-19 vaccine misinformation were implemented by Facebook in December. These actions were taken in anticipation of the vaccine distribution phase.
At that time, the company began removing posts containing specific falsehoods, including claims about vaccines containing microchips. Content alleging unauthorized human testing of vaccines was also removed.
Inconsistent Policy Enforcement
The reason such content wasn't previously addressed under existing COVID-19 misinformation policies remains unclear. Facebook initially established policies to prevent the spread of potentially dangerous conspiracies related to the pandemic.
However, the company has repeatedly demonstrated an inability to consistently and rigorously enforce its own established rules.
This inconsistency raises concerns about the effectiveness of the platform in safeguarding public health information.