Facebook said it would remove false claims about COVID-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts, following a similar announcement by YouTube in October.
Facebook on Thursday said it would remove false claims about COVID-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts, following a similar announcement by Alphabet’s YouTube in October. The move expands Facebook’s current rules against falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the pandemic. The social media company says it takes down coronavirus misinformation that poses a risk of «imminent» harm, while labeling and reducing distribution of other false claims that fail to reach that threshold. Facebook said in a blog post that the global policy change came in response to news that COVID-19 vaccines will soon be rolling out around the world. Two drug companies, Pfizer and Moderna, have asked US authorities for emergency use authorisation of their vaccine candidates. Britain approved the Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday, jumping ahead of the rest of the world in the race to begin the most crucial mass inoculation programme in history.
