LONDON (AP) – Facebook is adding informational labels to vaccine posts as it expands efforts to contain the COVID-19-related misinformation that flourishes on its platforms.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a blog Monday that the labels will contain “reliable information” about World Health Organization vaccines. They will be in English and five other languages, with more languages added in the coming weeks.
“For example, we are adding a label to posts that discuss the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, noting that COVID-19 vaccines undergo safety and efficacy tests before they are approved,” said Zuckerberg.
The social network is also adding a tool to help vaccinate users, connecting them to information about where and when they can get vaccinated.
Facebook and Instagram were criticized for allowing the spread of anti-vaccination advertising and for being terribly slow in eliminating misinformation, often with checking facts, labels and other restrictive measures.
“This announcement falls short of what is needed to resolve the crisis of anti-vaccine lies that pollute the timelines of social media users,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the nonprofit Center for Counter Digital Hate, a critic of the way companies media workers deal with hate speech and misinformation.
“Facebook and Instagram still do not remove the vast majority of posts reported to them because they contain dangerous erroneous information about vaccines,” she said. “The main propagators of anti-vaccine lies are still present on Instagram or Facebook, despite promises to remove them. And the evidence suggests that the way Facebook applies labels to misinformation posts has minimal impact. “
For years, Facebook and other social platforms have allowed anti-vaccination advertising to flourish, making it hard to suppress these feelings now. And its efforts to eliminate other types of disinformation from COVID-19 – often with fact checking, information labels and other restrictive measures, have been terribly slow.
The Associated Press recently identified more than a dozen Facebook pages and Instagram accounts, collectively boasting millions of followers, who made false claims about the COVID-19 vaccine or discouraged people from taking it. Some of these pages have been around for years.