Facebook Expands Efforts to Combat Misinformation About COVID-19 Vaccine

Facebook said on Monday it was leading the “biggest global campaign” to fight misinformation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines, and to educate the public about where and when they can get vaccinated.

Facebook’s health chief Kang-Xing Jin on Monday detailed the social media giant’s efforts to help the public with vaccines to protect against the novel coronavirus, saying his work is “similar to how we helped people find information on how to vote during elections. “

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Facebook said it was providing $ 120 million in advertising credits to help ministries of health, NGOs and United Nations agencies reach “billions of people around the world” with the COVID-19 vaccine and information preventive health.

Facebook also said it had “partnered with governments in more than 120 countries, as well as multilateral organizations like the World Health Organization and UNICEF, to provide timely information on the COVID-19, in particular via help lines on WhatsApp. ”

“We have connected more than 2 billion people from 189 countries to reliable information on the coronavirus through our COVID-19 information center and information messages,” said Jin, adding that Facebook was also working to fight against any spread of disinformation related to COVID-19 vaccines on their platform.

“We have removed over 12 million pieces of content on Facebook and Instagram containing misinformation that could lead to imminent physical damage,” said Jin.

Facebook said it was “expanding our efforts to suppress false claims on Facebook and Instagram regarding COVID-19, COVID-19, and vaccines in general during the pandemic.”

“Today, following consultations with leading health organizations, including the WHO, we are expanding the list of false claims that we will be removing to include other denied claims about COVID-19 and vaccines.” Jin wrote.

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Jin touted Facebook’s efforts, saying real-time data has shown countries “are leveraging our tools to support the response to COVID-19 in their communities.”

“But there is still a long way to go, and in 2021, we are focused on supporting health officials and government officials in their work to immunize billions of people against COVID-19,” Jin wrote. “Building confidence in these vaccines is essential, which is why we are launching the world’s largest campaign to help public health organizations share accurate information about COVID-19 vaccines and encourage people to get vaccinated. as vaccines become available. “

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Facebook’s campaign comes after Twitter announced in December that it had expanded existing rules to tackle misleading COVID-19 vaccine tweets and will prioritize “removing the most harmful and misleading information On vaccines.

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And Google, last month, pledged $ 150 million to promote education about the coronavirus vaccine and will open Google Spaces to serve as vaccination sites.