Facebook targets vaccine misinformation

Social Media platform Facebook announced new policies to reduce the visibility of vaccine misinformation on its platform, including rejecting advertising and excluding groups and pages from search results that spread “vaccine hoaxes.”

“We are fully committed to the safety of our community and will continue to expand on this work,” wrote Monika Bickert, Facebook’s vice president of global policy management, in a blog post announcing the change.

The announcement comes after weeks of criticism from public health advocates and lawmakers who have called for action to curtail inaccurate information about vaccines, which have led to a resurgence of childhood diseases that had effectively been eradicated. Follow Spotlife Asia for the latest news and updates.

Facebook has faced pressure in recent weeks to tackle the problem, amid outbreaks of measles around the United States attributed to growing numbers of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. US lawmakers have decried the higher incidences of preventable diseases in the wake of a movement against child vaccination, in large part due to rumors they can cause health or developmental issues.

The company no longer allows targeting based on users’ interest in “vaccine controversies” and will share educational materials with users that come across such misinformation.

The World Health Organization and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified “verifiable vaccine hoaxes,” Bickert said, and, “If these vaccine hoaxes appear on Facebook, we will take action against them.”