Facebook to target false claims, conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccine

CALIFORNIA

Social media recently witnessed growing misinformation on the COVID-19 vaccine, Facebook in the past which has taken up issues such as False news now has plans to remove content which the company considers being false information and linked to conspiracy theories about the vaccine.

In a press release, Facebook stated, “Given the recent news that COVID-19 vaccines will soon be rolling out around the world, over the coming weeks we will start removing false claims about these vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts on Facebook and Instagram."

“We will remove false claims that COVID-19 vaccines contain microchips, or anything else that isn’t on the official vaccine ingredient list,” the release added.

Information about COVID-19 vaccines will continue to evolve, emphasising the need to regularly update its policies as data from public health authorities becomes available, the release said.

According to Johns Hopkins University, 64,918,435 COVID-19 cases have been reported across the world with 1,501,076 fatalities.

(Inputs from Agencies)

(Edited by Christopher Gatphoh)