Facebook announces removal of misinformation and conspiracy theories about the new Corona vaccine

Facebook has announced that it will 'remove false claims about the vaccine from Facebook and Instagram,' while the new coronavirus vaccine was reported to be highly protective in clinical trials. Facebook says that the spread of false information about vaccines can cause physical harm to people.

Keeping People Safe and Informed About the Coronavirus --About Facebook

Covid vaccine: Facebook to ban anti-vaxx conspiracy theories | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/covid-vaccine-facebook-conspiracy-ban-b1765703.html

Facebook to remove misinformation about Covid vaccines
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/03/facebook-to-remove-misinformation-about-coronavirus-vaccines.html

Facebook Bans Debunked Claims About COVID-19 Vaccines: Coronavirus Updates: NPR
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/12/03/942155653/facebook-bans-debunked-claims-about-covid-vaccines

In November 2020, it was announced that American pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna have developed vaccines for the new coronavirus, both of which have shown high preventive effects in clinical trials. The UK has already announced that it will begin vaccination in December, with the vaccine arriving in the UK on December 3.

Pfizer announces that 'new corona vaccine with more than 90% preventive effect' has been developed --GIGAZINE

Moderna's new coronavirus vaccine, which showed 94.1% efficacy in clinical trials, applied for emergency use permission from the authorities --GIGAZINE

As preparations for vaccination are underway around the world, overseas media The Independent pointed out that various misinformation about vaccines is rapidly increasing on SNS. In response to this situation, Facebook updated its official blog on December 3 and announced that 'we will start removing false information about vaccines revealed by public health experts from Facebook and Instagram in the next few weeks.' did.

Regarding false information that Facebook deletes, false information about the safety, efficacy and side effects of the vaccine, hoaxes about ingredients such as 'the vaccine for the new coronavirus contains microchips', and 'certain people' Is being tested for vaccines against his will, 'he explains.

Facebook has already removed 'misinformation about the new coronavirus that could lead to imminent physical harm' and removed 12 million posts from Facebook and Instagram in March-October 2020 alone. And. For example, posts that advertise fake treatments for coronavirus infections or associate coronavirus with 5G networks are subject to Facebook removal.

Amazon and Facebook to remove products and advertisements claiming 'prevention and complete cure of new coronavirus infection' --GIGAZINE

On the other hand, misinformation about vaccines has been a problem even before the epidemic of the new coronavirus, and although Facebook refused to place ads claiming anti-vaccine, it was not willing to delete posts. Therefore, it is noteworthy to apply the approach to remove the hoax of the new coronavirus to vaccines.

Facebook announces rejection of ads claiming 'anti-vaccine'-GIGAZINE

In an official blog post, Facebook said, 'The policy on vaccine misinformation cannot be enforced immediately. The facts about the new coronavirus vaccine are early and will continue to evolve, so public health officials said. We will update our removal policy regularly based on our guidance. '

Tom Phillips , editor of FullFact, a fact-checking organization that works with Facebook to deter misinformation, admits that the Internet platform is the right approach to rigorously responding to vaccine misinformation. On the other hand, he pointed out that freedom of speech is important and that it is not illegal to worry or ask questions about vaccines. Therefore, he argued that it was important to give appropriate answers to the questions, not to suppress them.