Facebook will start slamming labels on all reports about coronavirus vaccines pointing users to ‘authoritative information’ as the giant social media company responds to criticism that it has spread incorrect information about vaccines in its platform.
The company said in a blog post on Monday that it has already started adding labels to posts discussing the safety of coronavirus vaccines. The labels lead users to Facebook’s Covid-19 Information Center, which contains ‘credible information’ from the World Health Organization and will also appear on Instagram.
Over the next few weeks, Facebook said it plans to add tags to all posts about coronavirus vaccinations that will point users around the world to its COVID-19 information center. More targeted labels on coronavirus vaccination topics will be added to other posts.
In addition, a screen appears when someone tries to share a message about coronavirus vaccines on Facebook and Instagram that will “provide more information so that people have the context they need to make informed decisions about what to share.”
The company will also take several “temporary measures” to curb “potentially harmful” coronavirus and vaccine misinformation, including limiting the scope of the content of users who have already violated or repeatedly violated Facebook’s policy on coronavirus misinformation shared content “unleashed as false or altered.” The restrictions will also apply to coronavirus or vaccine content that is considered “missing context” by Facebook’s third party fact checking.
Users who repeatedly violate Facebook’s policies will be removed from the platform, the company said.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also announced Monday that the company is launching a global campaign to help people gain access to the coronavirus vaccine. The initiative includes the debut of a tool that shows users when and where they can receive the vaccine, and provides a link to make appointmentst.
‘The data show that the vaccines are safe and that they work. It is our best hope to get past this virus and return to normal life. I’m looking forward to getting mine, and I hope you are too, ‘Zuckerberg wrote in a post on his Facebook page.
Facebook’s efforts come after lawmakers and others criticized the company for not doing more to combat misinformation on the coronavirus vaccine platform.
However, the new policy is a shift from Facebook’s attitude last fall, when the company said it would not target posts talking about the coronavirus vaccine, just as it suppressed misinformation about the coronavirus in general.
“If someone shows a case where a vaccine is harming or worrying about it, you know, it’s hard to say from my perspective that you should not express at all,” Zuckerberg said. Axios on HBO ”in September.
Zuckerberg also warned at the time that if ‘people’ generalize ‘things’ and ‘spread information’ in a way that could lead to ‘imminent harm’, the company could ‘try to take action against those’.
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