California [US]: Amid growing misinformation on social media, Facebook plans to remove posts with what they consider to be false information or conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines.
The company said in a statement on Thursday, in coming weeks they will start removing false claims about vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts.
“Given the recent news that COVID-19 vaccines will soon be rolling out around the world, over the coming weeks we will start removing false claims about these vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts on Facebook and Instagram,” the release said.
“For example, we will remove false claims that COVID-19 vaccines contain microchips, or anything else that isn’t on the official vaccine ingredient list,” the release added.
The release cited another allegedly false claim – that groups are being infused without their consent to test the vaccine’s safety – as another example of the kind of posts targeted for removal.
Since facts about COVID-19 vaccines will continue to evolve, the release emphasised the need to regularly update its policies as information from public health authorities becomes available, the release said.
According to Johns Hopkins University, 64,918,435 COVID-19 cases have been reported globally with 1,501,076 fatalities.
