Anti-vax communities and advertisers have thrived on the platform for years and the social networking giant is trying to remove them once and for all…again, writes SIDDHARTH GANGULY..——-.GUY Rosen, Facebook's Vice President, Integrity, made a blogpost on Monday announcing the drive to continue removing misinformation from both Facebook and Instagram.. Specifically, the platforms will now remove false claims regarding, "COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccines, and vaccines in general.".The company is consulting with leading health organisations, specifically mentioning the World Health Organisation (WHO), to debunk popular false claims that have been making the rounds on the site. Some of the specific claims cited include claims that COVID-19 is man-made, that vaccines against it are ineffective, that contracting the disease is safer than taking the vaccine, and that vaccine can cause autism..Also Read: Explained: How do Vaccines Work? .The last one of these claims has been popular propaganda amongst anti-vax communities and Facebook seems to be taking serious action against them for the first time. Groups and forums on the social media platform have often been accused of creating "echo-chambers" that become fertile breeding grounds for such propaganda to spread..“These moves build upon a stronger stance against misinformation that Facebook has been taken recently. Starting in December, the company began to remove posts about the pandemic which made claims that had been debunked by public health experts..The company has stated that it will remove posts containing any such claims as well as removing repeat offenders from their platforms altogether. Admins of groups that have violated these Covid policies will also be required to manually approve each post for an amount of time..These moves build upon a stronger stance against misinformation that Facebook has been taken recently. Starting in December, the company began to remove posts about the pandemic which made claims that had been debunked by public health experts..Also Read: Debunking Vaccine Myths—They Don't Cause Infertility Or Autism.These claims included theories that vaccines were being used to implant microchips in people and that 5G was responsible for the spread of the disease. Before this, while such posts were flagged, the company never went as far as removing them..December also saw the company take action against advertisers who try to, "exploit the pandemic for commercial gain." At the same time, the company promoted advertisements that talked about the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine..“However, despite this ban, top search results on Instagram when the phrase, "COVID vaccine" is searched still yields popular conspiracy theory pages in the results, as reported by The Guardian..Finally, the blogpost also spoke of, "improving search results" by promoting posts that would allow people to connect with vaccine experts while also stating that, " In the coming weeks we're making it harder to find accounts in search that discourage people from getting vaccinated." This is on Instagram specifically..However, despite this ban, top search results on Instagram when the phrase, "COVID vaccine" is searched still yields popular conspiracy theory pages in the results, as reported by The Guardian..Facebook has often been accused of laxity in dealing with harmful misinformation on their platforms, and even of profiting off of some of them through advertising. Despite this, throughout the pandemic, the company has been taking several approaches to curb this malicious news from spreading..While initially, a flagging system was implemented for posts debunked by third-party fact-checkers, the most recent moves of immediate removal of posts that violate Facebook's Covid policies, seeks to put in place a stronger deterrent for spreaders of false claims..(Siddharth Ganguly is a final year journalism student at the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.)
Anti-vax communities and advertisers have thrived on the platform for years and the social networking giant is trying to remove them once and for all…again, writes SIDDHARTH GANGULY..——-.GUY Rosen, Facebook's Vice President, Integrity, made a blogpost on Monday announcing the drive to continue removing misinformation from both Facebook and Instagram.. Specifically, the platforms will now remove false claims regarding, "COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccines, and vaccines in general.".The company is consulting with leading health organisations, specifically mentioning the World Health Organisation (WHO), to debunk popular false claims that have been making the rounds on the site. Some of the specific claims cited include claims that COVID-19 is man-made, that vaccines against it are ineffective, that contracting the disease is safer than taking the vaccine, and that vaccine can cause autism..Also Read: Explained: How do Vaccines Work? .The last one of these claims has been popular propaganda amongst anti-vax communities and Facebook seems to be taking serious action against them for the first time. Groups and forums on the social media platform have often been accused of creating "echo-chambers" that become fertile breeding grounds for such propaganda to spread..“These moves build upon a stronger stance against misinformation that Facebook has been taken recently. Starting in December, the company began to remove posts about the pandemic which made claims that had been debunked by public health experts..The company has stated that it will remove posts containing any such claims as well as removing repeat offenders from their platforms altogether. Admins of groups that have violated these Covid policies will also be required to manually approve each post for an amount of time..These moves build upon a stronger stance against misinformation that Facebook has been taken recently. Starting in December, the company began to remove posts about the pandemic which made claims that had been debunked by public health experts..Also Read: Debunking Vaccine Myths—They Don't Cause Infertility Or Autism.These claims included theories that vaccines were being used to implant microchips in people and that 5G was responsible for the spread of the disease. Before this, while such posts were flagged, the company never went as far as removing them..December also saw the company take action against advertisers who try to, "exploit the pandemic for commercial gain." At the same time, the company promoted advertisements that talked about the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine..“However, despite this ban, top search results on Instagram when the phrase, "COVID vaccine" is searched still yields popular conspiracy theory pages in the results, as reported by The Guardian..Finally, the blogpost also spoke of, "improving search results" by promoting posts that would allow people to connect with vaccine experts while also stating that, " In the coming weeks we're making it harder to find accounts in search that discourage people from getting vaccinated." This is on Instagram specifically..However, despite this ban, top search results on Instagram when the phrase, "COVID vaccine" is searched still yields popular conspiracy theory pages in the results, as reported by The Guardian..Facebook has often been accused of laxity in dealing with harmful misinformation on their platforms, and even of profiting off of some of them through advertising. Despite this, throughout the pandemic, the company has been taking several approaches to curb this malicious news from spreading..While initially, a flagging system was implemented for posts debunked by third-party fact-checkers, the most recent moves of immediate removal of posts that violate Facebook's Covid policies, seeks to put in place a stronger deterrent for spreaders of false claims..(Siddharth Ganguly is a final year journalism student at the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.)
