Facebook will tell people where they can be vaccinated

Facebook will begin this week to show its users in the United States information about where and when they can get Covid-19 vaccines, the company announced on Monday.

As part of its Covid-19 Information Center, Facebook will direct users to the websites of local health agencies, where they can obtain information about their eligibility to be vaccinated. The feature will be expanded globally in the coming weeks.

The company will also provide $ 120 million in advertising credits to health agencies worldwide, so they can run campaigns on Covid-19 vaccines.

In addition, the company said it worked with the World Health Organization to expand its list of false claims related to Covid-19 that Facebook will remove from its services. This includes claims that Covid-19 is man-made, claims that vaccines are not effective, and claims that vaccines can cause autism.

For groups that have already violated Facebook’s Covid-19 policies, the company will temporarily require administrators to approve all posts in their groups before they are published. On Instagram, the company will make it harder for people to find accounts that discourage people from being vaccinated. Facebook and Instagram groups, pages and accounts that repeatedly share unmasked Covid-19 claims can be removed entirely, the company said.

Facebook said it is also partnering with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to ensure that information about Covid-19 vaccines reaches communities where access to vaccines may be less. This includes indigenous, black and Latin communities.

The company announced in November its plans to provide users with reliable information about Covid-19 vaccines.

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