Only a small group of Internet users, an estimate of 111, spread serious doubts about the effectiveness of the novel online coronavirus vaccines, the Washington Post reported, citing an analysis group that listed the data. The small group has been blamed for the ‘vaccine hesitancy’ campaign on Facebook, and 10 out of a total of 638 populations targeted by content evoked a false threat from COVID-19 vaccines coming from this particular clan, the group found. This made up nearly 50 percent of all content on the platform that discouraged civilians from getting in. A study conducted by Facebook also found links of those accounts with the most remote group QAnon.
The vaccination hesitency campaign comes even as Facebook deleted at least 800 QAnon conspiracy theorist accounts and 1,950 public and private QAnon groups from last year that were involved in driving violent content, and encourage the use of weapons. In an official statement, Facebook said it was removing such accounts monitoring online public safety, and preventing the dissemination of unverified information online.
Calling the group ‘offline anarchists’, a spokesperson for Facebook said in an online post that the social media company was “taking action” against the most conspiracy theory group further involved in the dissemination of false information. In a recent statement, Facebook spokeswoman Dani Lever said, since last year, Facebook has launched hard efforts to eliminate or prevent false and misleading reports about the coronavirus vaccines. The company partnered with more than 60 global health experts to bring down content raising fears about COVID-19 injection.
And this is partly because the recommendation engine used Q groups to accounts that were in antivax groups. https://t.co/k5KFviQA1I
– Renee DiResta (@noUpside) March 14, 2021
Russia Information Services manages â ???? several online platforms to spread disinfection, including about life-saving vaccines every day. â ???? This is another way Russia is targeting the public â ????? deceived and opposed, endangering lives in this case. pic.twitter.com/cKNHPBrlCb
– Ned Price (@StateDeptSpox) March 11, 2021
Facebook labels vaccine posts
In a Facebook survey published earlier yesterday, experts pointed out that “a concerted effort has been made” to verify the authenticity and safety of handfuls vaccines. However, “there is a great deal of feeling about vaccines sitting in a gray area,” the report said. Around a hundred or so people, relatively few people, were involved in disseminating “comments that contribute to vaccine delays, or the act of delaying or refusing vaccinations. despite being available, on social media, a primary source of health information for millions of people, “the study said.
Earlier yesterday, in an effort to fight against vaccine misinformation, Facebook announced that it will post a leaflet on the online coronavirus vaccine to filter out the reliable information. In a blog post, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company was introducing information leaflets in English and 5 other languages to counter false claims surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines.