Facebook to remove COVID-19 vaccine-related false claims from platform
In a bid to reduce misinformation, Facebook will remove all false claims related to COVID-19 vaccines in the coming weeks
In a bid to reduce misinformation in the platform, Facebook will remove all false claims related to COVID-19 vaccines in the coming weeks. The social media giant will also invest $100 million in the news and support fact-checkers to prevent COVID-19 related misinformation. This comes just ahead of the roll-out of the first COVID-19 vaccines as the UK gave emergency approval to Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Between March 2020 to October 2020, Facebook has removed about 12 million Facebook and Instagram posts which contained misinformation regarding coronavirus.
"Given the recent news that COVID-19 vaccines will soon be rolling out around the world, over the coming weeks we will start removing false claims about these vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts on Facebook and Instagram," said Facebook.
"Promoting authoritative sources of information"
In an official blog post, Facebook said that it will remove any information about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccine that could lead to 'imminent physical harm'. It further added that this includes all false information about the 'safety, efficacy, ingredients and side-effects' of the vaccine. The social media giant added that conspiracy theories related posts will also be targetted and removed while adding that the COVID-19 vaccine is new and will 'continue to evolve' and the false claims will be deleted with guidance from public health officials. In order to promote fact-checked information, Facebook said that it will 'promote authoritative sources of information'.
Citing an example, Facebook said, "For example, we will remove false claims that COVID-19 vaccines contain microchips or anything else that isn’t on the official vaccine ingredient list. We will also remove conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines that we know today are false: like specific populations are being used without their consent to test the vaccine’s safety. We will not be able to start enforcing these policies overnight. Since it’s early and facts about COVID-19 vaccines will continue to evolve, we will regularly update the claims we remove based on guidance from public health authorities as they learn more."
Earlier, Facebook had removed a post shared by US President Donald Trump which had a link to a Fox News video where Trump claimed that children are 'virtually immune' to COVID-19. This step was in line with the social media giant's initiative to prevent COVID-19 and vaccine-related misinformation. It also went on to promote COVID-19 articles which busted myths and misinformation while banning advertisements which discouraged vaccination other than any advocacy ads about government's vaccine policies in October.
(With inputs from AP)
Published By : Janvi Manchanda
Published On: 4 December 2020 at 14:20 IST