Facebook bans vaccine misinformation in latest platform clean-up
Facebook has banned misinformation about all vaccines in its latest effort to crack down on harmful material.
In December the social media firm began removing claims from Facebook and Instagram about approved Covid-19 vaccines that had been debunked by health experts.
The company today said it would extend these measures to include more false claims such as that Covid-19 is man-made or manufactured and that vaccines are toxic, dangerous or cause autism.
Facebook said the new rules will apply to users’ posts as well as paid adverts, which are already subject to a ban on misinformation.
The platform said it will enforce the policy immediately, requiring admins on some groups with members who have violated the rules to temporarily approve all posts on the group.
It added that pages, accounts or groups that repeatedly shared vaccine misinformation on Facebook or Instagram could be permanently banned.
In addition, Facebook said it was tightening its search functions to ensure that relevant and authoritative results about vaccines were promoted.
It marks the latest effort by the tech giant to clean up misinformation amid concerns about conspiracy theories and false claims spreading on its platform.
The company last month said it will trial new tools that give brands greater control over what content appears alongside their ads.