Facebook will remove content that promotes misinformation about COVID vaccines, to prevent the flow of false news before the start of the vaccine's application in some countries.
These measures will apply to Facebook and Instagram, which according to the social network, since March to date have removed up to 12 million fake content related to COVID-19. That's the reason why, before the beginning of the vaccination campaigns this month and at the beginning of the year in some European countries, Facebook will prevent the spreading of false information about this on its platform. “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.”
The algorithms used for news removal will not be the same as those that block or display signs of false claims, but rather they will be removed entirely. In the case of images, Facebook uses a reverse search algorithm that detects the images used and where they come from so that it knows what their original source is and whether they are taken out of context or contain false information. "I don't think AI is the solution to all problems. But with AI, we can eliminate the hard work and give people power tools, instead of looking at similar images day in and day out," said Mike, Facebook's chief technology officer, last May.
The American company, mentioned in a statement on its blog, that eliminating this kind of false content is a way to prevent people from hurting themselves or their bodies by checking out false information about vaccines. One type of content Facebook has identified among the false claims about vaccines is that they include microchips, a claim that is unsubstantiated, so posts that claim that vaccines are made up of ingredients not on the official vaccine list will be removed.
Facebook also reported that the information will be constantly updated depending on the evolution of the updates on the vaccines. The company began a campaign against misinformation about vaccines in 2019, and this year has continued in the COVID-19 outbreak and the pandemic.
