In an important move, Facebook has announced that it will remove false claims and misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines from both Facebook and Instagram.
It is part of a wider movement to help fight false news about the pandemic. Since December, the platform has been removing claims about coronavirus that have been ruled out by health experts.
But on Monday, the company expanded this policy and is now focusing exclusively on common claims against vax.
“Today, following consultations with key health organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), we are expanding the list of false claims we will remove in order to including additional decompressed claims about the coronavirus and vaccines, “Guy Rosen, Facebook ‘s Integrity VP, wrote in a blog update.
This includes applications such as:
- COVID-19 is man-made or manufactured
- Vaccines are not effective in preventing the disease they are intended to protect against
- It is safer to get the disease than to be vaccinated
- Vaccines are toxic, dangerous or cause autism
Facebook also removes false claims that the vaccine will alter people’s DNA or make them infertile, as well as false claims about where the vaccines will be made or their effectiveness.
But how do we know that SARS-CoV-2 was not performed in a laboratory?
Researchers know that SARS-CoV-2 was not performed in a laboratory because if it did, there would be evidence of manipulation in the genetic data.
Thousands of scientists around the world have ordered the genome of the virus that causes COVID-19 and made their results public, and no traces of the genome have been altered by it. the tools we have.
Are the vaccines safe?
Although the results of the vaccine were quickly discovered, all approved COVID-19 vaccines have undergone the same rigorous laboratory clinical trials, and also in humans, as any other vaccine on the market.
There is a wealth of safety data available about the vaccines, and while there are some rare people who may be concerned about the ingredient in one of the vaccines – as is the case with any medication – the results show the vaccines that are approved for use are both safe for human use and effective.
But what about free speech?
The tech giant says it has already downloaded more than 12 million pieces of content on Facebook and Instagram, containing “misinformation that could lead to impending physical harm.”
And since April, the company has issued warning leaflets on about 50 million pieces of content.
Facebook also announced Monday that it would provide US $ 120 million to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UN agencies and the health ministry to help disseminate COVID-19 vaccines and protective health information.
“In 2021 we focus on supporting health leaders and public officials in their work to vaccinate billions of people against COVID-19,” Kang-Xing Jin, Head of Health at Facebook, wrote in a statement .
In fact, Facebook has never been so vigilant against misinformation. Studies have shown that the social media company has been a tool for spreading false news and promoting polarization.
But as a result of the pandemic, and especially since the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, the platform has become more prominent than fighting against misinformation.
Many people may see gestures as an attack on freedom of speech. But the reality is that much of what we see on social media is hijacked by fake accounts and bots, often created with the goal of seeding segregation and spreading misinformation.
In fact, a study led by Carnegie Mellon University in May last year found that between 45 and 60 percent of Twitter accounts sharing information on COVID-19 were the most likely bots. Many of these were circulating reports that the U.S. should reopen in the early days of the pandemics of pandemics.
To put that in perspective, at U.S. and foreign elections, political events and natural disasters, bots typically make up about 10 to 20 percent of the debate.
Social media researcher Jeanna Matthews from Clarkson University in New York last year discussed whether social media platforms like Facebook should take more stand.
“He has often been mistaken for freedom of speech concerns,” she wrote for The Conversation.
“Does freedom of speech include the right to create 100,000 false accounts with the specific purpose of spreading lies, division and chaos?”
You can read the full list of COVID-19 applications that Facebook will no longer release on the platform here (note: some people report that Facebook has not yet introduced the new guide, and so it may be a gradual process).