Facebook Has Removed 16M+ Pieces of Content for Covid-19 and Vaccine Misinformation

Acknowledging President Joe Biden’s goal of having 70% of adults in the U.S. get at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot by July 4 and reaching 160 million fully vaccinated Americans by that date, Facebook head of health Kang-Xing Jin provided an update on the social network’s various related initiatives. Jin said in a Newsroom post Tuesday that over 3.3 million people have used the VaccineFinder tool it rolled out March 11, in partnership with Boston Children’s Hospital, to get appointment information, directions or call a provider. The social network has also been providing reliable information about whether and when people are eligible for the vaccine via News Feed alerts and its Coronavirus (Covid-19) Information Center, and Jin said West Virginia’s Department of Health and Human Resources reported that vaccine registrations increased significantly after Facebook started running these notifications. Since January, Facebook has issued over $30 million in ad credits to help governments, non-governmental organizations and other entities reach users with information on the vaccine and other important messages, and Jin said this has resulted in some 10 billion ad impressions globally. Over 5 million people worldwide have used Facebook’s Covid-19 vaccine profile frames and stickers, and they have been seen by over 50% of users in the U.S. Similar stickers on Instagram have been used over 7 million times since April and seen by more than one-quarter of U.S. accounts. Jin said Facebook has removed more than 16 million pieces of content from its family of applications for violating its rules on Covid-19 and vaccine misinformation, adding that in cases where content does not break the rules but could discourage vaccination, distribution is reduced and it is removed from recommendations on Facebook and Instagram. The social network has been collaborating with Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Maryland since April 2020 on global surveys to gather insights about Covid-19 symptoms, testing, vaccination rates and other data, and Jin said those efforts have found that vaccine acceptance is rising worldwide and has been doing so steadily since January. In the U.S., overall vaccine acceptance is up 10% among adults, with that figure rising to 26% for Black adults and 14% for Hispanic adults. The survey also found that in April, 36% of adults who intended to get vaccinated but had not yet done so felt uniformed about how to do it, while just 22% reported having appointments. Meanwhile, among adults who are hesitant, the main reasons were concerns about side effects and distrust of Covid-19 vaccines and the government. Jin wrote, “While we’re encouraged by the positive trends in surveys about vaccine acceptance and the work that we and our partners have done so far, the data also demonstrates the need to continue efforts to reach the remaining populations with lower vaccine acceptance.”

Coronavirus

Facebook Has Removed 16M+ Pieces of Content for Covid-19 and Vaccine Misinformation

The VaccineFinder tool it developed with Boston Children’s Hospital has been used by over 3.3 million people

David Cohen

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David Cohen