LONDON (AP) – Facebook adds informational tags to vaccine posts as it expands efforts to combat COVID-19-related misinformation that is flourishing on its platforms.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post On Monday, the labels will include “credible information” about World Health Organization vaccines. They will be in English and in five more languages, with more languages added in the coming weeks.
“For example, we add a label to publications that discuss the safety of COVID-19 vaccines that indicates that COVID-19 vaccines go through safety and efficacy testing before they are approved,” Zuckerberg said.
The social network also adds a tool to help vaccinate users by connecting them with information about where and when they can get their prey.
Facebook and Instagram have been criticized for allowing the spread of vaccination propaganda and for their slowness in eliminating misinformation, often with data controls, labels, and other restricted measures.
“This announcement falls far short of what is needed to resolve the vaccine crisis, which contaminates the deadlines of social media users,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the nonprofit Center for the Fight against digital hatred. hate speech and misinformation.
“Facebook and Instagram still don’t eliminate the vast majority of posts that have been reported to them because they contain dangerous misinformation about vaccines,” she said. . And the evidence suggests that the way Facebook applies tags to misinformation posts has minimal impact. “
For years, Facebook and other social platforms have allowed vaccination propaganda to flourish, making it difficult to dispel those feelings now. And its efforts to eliminate other types of misinformation from COVID-19, often with data controls, information labels, and other restricted measures, have been sadly slow.
The Associated Press has recently identified more than a dozen Facebook pages and Instagram accounts, which have millions of followers, who have made false claims about the COVID-19 vaccine or discouraged people from taking it. Some of these pages have been around for years.