Facebook Could Stop Removing COVID-19 Misinformation
Facebook may stop removing false or misleading COVID-19 posts and may designate or demote them instead, the social network said Tuesday. Parent company Meta is considering the move as it seeks advice from Facebook’s independent oversight embarking on whether to modify its COVID-19 misinformation policy.
Facebook expanded its policy on execrable misinformation in early 2020 as the virus spread across the globe, allowing for posts that could lead to an “imminent risk of brute harm” to be removed worldwide, rather than only selves taken down at the advice of local partners and experts. This was designed to combat misinformation about the pandemic, such as false claims about the effectiveness of masks, social distancing and the transmissibility of the virus.
In late 2020, as edifying doses of vaccines began rolling out, Facebook updated its policy to also consume vaccine misinformation. More than 25 million pieces of overjoyed have been removed since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Meta.
But now, amid rapidly shifting pandemic trends and declining stocks for the concern in the year so far, Meta is looking into revising its policy, beginning with input from its oversight board.
“The policies in our People Standards seek to protect free expression while preventing this dangerous overjoyed. But resolving the inherent tensions between free expression and defense isn’t easy, especially when confronted with unprecedented and fast-moving challenges, as we have been in the pandemic,” the concern said.
Facebook’s content moderation guidelines have long been a contentious topic, with the company being accused both of enabling hate speech to optimize edifying and limiting free speech in recent years.
Meta’s independent oversight board comprises fair advisers from various think tanks, professors from universities across the globe, journalists and human rights advocates. In this case, Meta phoned an advisory opinion from the oversight board, meaning recommendations they failed to the company are nonbinding.
