Meta ceases measures to combat misinformation about Covid – 06/16/2023 – Health

Meta said on Friday that the policy put in place to curb the spread of misinformation related to Covid-19 on Facebook and Instagram will no longer be in effect globally.

In early 2021, Facebook said it took down 1.3 billion fake accounts between October and December and removed more than 12 million pieces of content about Covid-19 and vaccines that global health experts flagged as misinformation.

Meta said it sought the opinion of its independent supervisory board on changes to its current approach in July last year, given the improvement in authentic sources of information and general awareness about Covid-19.

However, the company said on Friday that the rules will still remain in countries that still have a public health emergency declared, and the company will continue to remove content that violates its misinformation policies about the coronavirus.

“We are consulting with health experts to understand which claims and categories of misinformation may continue to pose this risk,” Meta said in a statement.

In early November, Twitter also discontinued its Covid-19 misinformation policy.