Facebook said on Monday that it plans to remove posts with erroneous claims about vaccines from its entire platform, including overturning claims that vaccines cause autism or that it is safer for people to get Covid-19 than receiving vaccines .
The social network has increasingly changed its content policies over the past year, with the rise of the coronavirus. In October, the social network banned people and businesses from buying ads that included false or misleading information about vaccines. In December, Facebook announced that it would remove posts with allegations that had been unmasked by the World Health Organization or government agencies.
Monday’s decision goes further by directing unpaid posts to the site, and particularly to Facebook pages and groups. Instead of just targeting misinformation about Covid’s vaccines, the update covers false claims about all vaccines. Facebook said it consulted the World Health Organization and other major health institutes to determine a list of false or misleading claims about Covid and vaccines in general.
In the past, Facebook had said it would just “downgrade” or push down people’s people’s news feeds, misleading or false claims about vaccines, making it more difficult to find such groups or posts. Now, posts, pages and groups containing such falsehoods will be completely removed from the platform.
“Building trust and security in these vaccines is critical, so we are launching the largest worldwide campaign to help public health organizations share accurate information about Covid-19 vaccines and encourage people to be vaccinated as vaccines become available to them” , Kang-Xing Jin, Facebook’s chief of health, said on a company blog.
The company said the changes were in response to a recent decision by the Facebook Oversight Board, an independent body that reviews decisions made by the company’s policy team and determines whether they were fair. In a decision, the board said Facebook needed to create a new standard for health-related misinformation because its current rules were “inadequately vague”.
Facebook also said it would give $ 120 million in advertising credits to ministries of health, non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies to help spread the reliable Covid-19 vaccine and preventive health information. As vaccination centers spread more widely, Facebook said it would help to tell people where to get the vaccine.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and chief executive, has been proactive against false information related to the coronavirus. He frequently hosts Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, on Facebook to provide live video updates on the American response to Covid. In his private philanthropy, Zuckerberg also promised to “eradicate all diseases”, promising billions to fight viruses and other diseases.
However, Zuckerberg was also a staunch supporter of free speech on Facebook and was previously reluctant to contain most falsehoods, even if they were potentially dangerous. The exception has been Facebook’s policy of not tolerating statements that could lead to “direct and immediate physical harm” to people on or off the platform.
Facebook was criticized for this stance, including allowing President Donald J. Trump to remain on the platform until after the January 6 riot at the United States Capitol.
For years, public health advocates and outside critics have questioned Facebook’s refusal to remove false or misleading vaccine claims and leave anti-vaccination groups intact. This has led to an increase in false information about vaccines, usually from people or groups who spread other harmful erroneous information on the website. Even when Facebook tried to update its policies, it often left loopholes that were exploited by disinformation promoters.
Facebook said on Monday that it would also change its search engines to promote relevant and reliable results about Covid and vaccine-related information, while making it harder to find accounts that discourage people from being vaccinated.