Facebook to take down false posts on Covid-19 vaccine

New York - Company introduces more stringent policies to combat misinformation during the pandemic.

Facebook Inc said on Monday it will expand a list of false health claims it bans from the platform to include debunked claims about vaccines in general, such as that they are toxic or cause autism.

The social media company said in a blog post it was increasing the types of false claims about the coronavirus, its vaccine and other vaccines that it will remove, including that Covid-19 is a man-made virus, and that vaccines are dangerous. Such claims are already prohibited in ads on the platform.

Facebook said it would remove groups, pages and accounts that repeatedly share the debunked claims.

The company has introduced more stringent policies to combat Covid-19 vaccine misinformation during the pandemic, but has had a more hands-off approach to misinformation about other vaccines, which has rarely been removed and only when it was considered to risk “imminent harm”.