Facebook Bans 'Misinformation' About Coronavirus Vaccine

Facebook announced this week that it will remove what it decides are false claims about coronavirus vaccines including posts debunked by Facebook’s chosen health experts.

NBC News reports that tech giant Facebook announced this week that it plans to remove false claims about coronavirus vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts. In October, Google-owned YouTube made a similar promise. The decision expands Facebook’s current rules relating to falsehoods and conspiracy theories related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Facebook states that it takes down any misinformation that poses a risk of “imminent” harm, and labels and reduces other false claims that fail to reach that threshold. In a blog post, Facebook stated that the global policy change came in response to recent news that coronavirus vaccines would begin rolling out worldwide beginning soon.

The blog post outlines Facebook’s new rules for removing misinformation, stating:

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.

The nonprofit group First Draft reported in November that 84 percent of interactions generated by vaccine-related conspiracy content came from Facebook pages and the Facebook-owned photo-sharing platform Instagram. Facebook did not specify when it would begin enforcing its updated policy but noted that it would “not be able to start enforcing these policies overnight.”

Mark Zuckerberg has already announced Facebook’s intention of partnering with Joe Biden with his “COVID response.”