Facebook Hashtag Purge Fails To Stop Covid-19 Conspiracy Theories Spreading

Over the last two months, Facebook has pledged to use artificial intelligence and human moderators to crack down on misinformation spread across its platforms by QAnon and Covid-19 conspiracy theorists. But in some ways it’s struggling to live up to that pledge. This month it has been forced to block one hashtag on its own site and another on Instagram that were hugely popular amongst QAnon and Covid-19 conspiracy theory spreaders, not because moderators or Facebook AI discovered them, but after being alerted to them by Forbes. 

The first was #DarkToLight on Facebook. As many as 30,000 people were posting about it just before it was taken down last week. It included a large number of posts containing what appeared to be QAnon-linked conspiracy theories, those that suggest an elusive deep state of the super-rich and hyper-powerful are trying to control the masses through myriad machinations and are sexually abusing children.  One Facebook user put up a warning that “justice is coming” alongside an image of a man in a suit with a noose around his neck. It contained the caption, “The cabal’s fashion trend 2021.” After disclosure by Forbes, Facebook said it had also deleted the majority of posts made under #DarkToLight.

The second to face the chop was #Scamdemic on Instagram. On February 19, #Scamdemic was not searchable on Facebook, but was on Instagram. As of 10.30am ET on that day, there were 112,000 posts containing the hashtag on Instagram. However, after Forbes asked why the hashtag was blocked on one site and not the other, and received no response from Facebook, by February 23 the hashtag was hidden “because the community has reported some content that may not meet Instagram’s community guidelines.”

Other hashtags that Facebook has recently removed include #digitalsoldier, #trusttheplan,  #greatawakening, #wwg1wga and #NothingCanStopWhatIsComing, all related to QAnon-inspired conspiracy theories.

Others with questionable content remain live. Just a few minutes of pivoting around Facebook hashtags to find those linked to conspiracy theories. Starting by looking up #TheGreatReset, there are all manner of conspiracy theories that Covid-19 is a global plot by the elite to control the masses through fear and vaccination, some rehashing the Bill Gates link to the global cabal. One user suggested people should remove their kids from school before they get vaccinated, another calling Covid-19 the #Scamdemic, still viewable on some posts despite the ban. As many as 17,000 people have been posting with #TheGreatReset, a hashtag that started as a World Economic Forum project to rethink capitalism during the Covid-19 crisis but was co-opted by conspiracy theorists who believe it’s one way in which a cabal is trying to take over.

Posts include links to other hashtags like #GreatReset, #Agenda21 and #Agenda2030, which 13,000, 25,000 and 40,000 users respectively have been posting about. Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030 are U.N initiatives promoting sustainable development, but right-wing conspiracy theorists believe they’re just two additional plots of the global dictatorship. The posts include many of the same conspiracy theories, suggesting the pandemic was created or exaggerated to get people to take a vaccine that’s either not needed or will be used to control those who take it.

Facebook had not provided comment at the time of publication.

Facebook’s war on misinformation

Facebook has pledged to take down QAnon material and anti-vaccine posts using a mix of AI and manual moderation. In December, the company updated its policies to ensure it removed false claims about Covid-19 and vaccines on both Facebook and Instagram, focusing on claims that have been debunked by public health experts. “This could include false claims about the safety, efficacy, ingredients or side effects of the vaccines. 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.”

Despite these increased efforts to take down misinformation, users can easily create new hashtags and dodge the social media giant’s attempts to clamp down on their misinformation. Some hashtags, though dominated by conspiracy theorists and believers, will naturally be more difficult to take down. #WakeUp, for instance, is so general that Facebook may be going too far in banning it, even though much of the content containing the tag contains unfounded conspiracy theories.

Even if it doesn’t today, Facebook’s AI may one day be able to understand the nuance. “We’re especially focused on getting AI even better, and understanding the context of speech across different languages, cultures and geographies,” said Mike Schroepfer, Facebook chief technology officer, during a briefing with reporters earlier this month. “We’re making progress. And we won’t stop.”

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