Facebook extends ban on anti-vax misinformation

Facebook is expanding the list of false claims on COVID-19 and vaccines that are banned from its platform and from its subsidiary Instagram, the company announced late Monday.

The expanded list of banned claims includes the idea that “COVID-19 is man-made or manufactured,” that “vaccines are not effective at preventing the disease they are meant to protect against,” that “it’s safer to get the disease than to get the vaccine,” and that “vaccines are toxic, dangerous or cause autism.”

The policy change is part of a broader announcement from Facebook of measures to promote vaccination. The company “is giving $120 million in ad credits to help health ministries, NGOs and UN agencies reach billions of people around the world with COVID-19 vaccine and preventive health information,” Facebook’s Head of Health Kang-Xing Jin said in a statement.

Facebook will also start to provide information on vaccination centers this week in the United States, saying it will expand the feature “in the coming weeks” in other countries.

The news comes as an investigation published Monday by Media Matters for America showed Facebook is still struggling to shut down vaccine hoaxes. Two different YouTube uploads of the same falsehood-filled video entitled “Truth matters” gained more than 16 million engagements on Facebook since late December, the NGO found.

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