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Facebook Will Crack Down on Anti-Vaccine Content

As Clark County, Washington, combats an ongoing measles outbreak, Facebook announced Thursday that its diminishing the reach of anti-vaccine information on its platform.

It will no longer allow it to be promoted through ads or recommendations, and will make it less prominent in search results.

The decision was widely anticipated: Facebook, along with YouTube and Amazon, has faced criticism from journalists and lawmakers in recent weeks for allowing vaccine misinformation to flourish on their sites.

Last month, Adam Schiff, a Democratic representative from California, sent letters to the CEOs of YouTube and Facebook demanding they answer questions about the spread of anti-vaccine information on their companys platforms. He followed up with a similar letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos last week. On Wednesday, an 18-year-old from Ohio testified before the Senate that his mother primarily received misinformation about vaccines on Facebook and opted not to inoculate him.

Last month, the Daily Beast reported that more than 150 anti-vaccine ads had been bought on Facebook, which often targeted women over 25. YouTube similarly announced last month that it would begin preventing ads from running on videos featuring anti-vaccine content.

Facebook will also reduce the ranking of pages and groups that spread misinformation about vaccines in search results and in its News Feed. Facebooks announcement today is further acknowledgment of its role in that ecosystem, and the idea that free speech is not the same as free reach.

Original article
Author: Wired

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