Facebook has discovered that much of its anti-vaxx content comes from a hard core of just 111 accounts

Facebook has identified a core of 111 accounts sharing a large amount of anti-vaccine and vaccine-skeptic material on its platform, according to an internal report obtained by the Washington Post.

The accounts in question have not been named. According to the Post, Facebook identified them by dividing its US users into different categories and assessing how receptive they were to vaccine-skeptical content.

The 111 accounts were responsible for most of the content consumed by the ten categories most receptive to such content overall, which the Post said accounts for more than 50% of vaccine skeptical content on the platform. .

Facebook bans vaccine posts containing information that is proven to be false, but there is a large gray area of ​​posts that undermine vaccines without saying anything possibly wrong.

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There was a significant overlap, according to the report, between those pushing anti-vaccination content and support for the QAnon conspiracy movement.

Facebook has come under pressure to tackle anti-vaccine content promoted and shared on its platforms during the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

A report by activist group Avaaz last August found that health disinformation on the platform has been viewed more than 3.8 billion times in the past year, peaking when the pandemic hit. hit.

Facebook announced new measures on Monday to help people access information on how to get vaccinated.

Anti-vaccine content is spreading faster on Instagram Insider reported in December 2020. The sites have separate enforcement policies.

Instagram deleted prominent anti-vaccination activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s account in February, although his Facebook account remains active.

The story continues

Experts told Insider at the time that the site’s policy change in December did not go far enough and called on the site to kick out prominent anti-vaccination activists.

The report shared with the Post did not identify the 111 accounts sharing most of the misinformation about vaccines. Last year, the UK Digital Hate Center in a report identified the most influential groups and individuals behind the movement.

A Facebook spokesperson told the Post it could use the data to change its policies regarding vaccine content, although no decision has been made.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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