‘Methodological failure’: Experts say vaccine misinformation is still rampant on Facebook. Facebook

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Facebook is once again under fire for spreading misinformation about vaccines on its platform, after Joe Biden said tech giants like Facebook are “killing people” for failing to address the problem.

The White House has also focused on the “dozen misinformation”: accounts that have been shown to be responsible for the bulk of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms.

And while Facebook has defended itself, saying it has removed more than 18 million pieces of misinformation about the Covid virus, experts who study online misinformation say it is still largely failing to address the problem and that lies about the vaccine are still reaching millions of people.

“Facebook has said time and time again that it will take action, but in fact we have seen a gradual implementation of its Community Standards where some accounts are removed from Instagram but not Facebook and vice versa,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the center. for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), the organization behind the “disinformation” study cited by the White House. “There has been a systematic failure to address this.”

This report from March 12 identified a “superspreader” account. A Facebook spokesperson said the company permanently bans pages, groups and accounts that “repeatedly break our rules on Covid disinformation,” including “more than a dozen pages, groups and accounts from these individuals.”

In the months since the study was released, the Human Rights Advisory Council confirmed that social platforms had taken action against members of the “dozens”, removing 35 social media accounts. They lost 41% of their followers – 5.8 million – but still have 8.4 million followers and 62 active accounts.

Disinformation experts have condemned platforms for removing some of the most outrageous accounts, but not others. For example, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the head of vaccine control, still has a Facebook account, despite being banned from Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.

Alternative medicine doctor Joseph Mercola is also still on Facebook, having made a number of posts questioning vaccines in recent weeks that have been retweeted hundreds of times by his 1.7 million followers. He also used the platform to promote his anti-vaccination book The Truth About Covid-19.

Other research has also shown that the scale of the problem is still significant. Many publications incorrectly state that the vaccine is not safe, ineffective, or worth getting, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. One popular and unfounded conspiracy theory is that the vaccine implants users with a microchip.

Experts say these posts are particularly prevalent on Facebook in Spanish – an area of ​​the platform they say Facebook doesn’t allocate enough resources to moderation.

“Facebook needs a much better mechanism to stop the spread of misinformation about a vaccine, and they need to make sure they do that across languages,” said Jessica Gonzalez, co-CEO of Free Press, a media group. She added that it is difficult to gauge the scope of the problem when Facebook does not share the numbers.

According to Accountable Tech, which monitors social media, 11 of the 15 best vaccine-related posts on Facebook last week contained misinformation or were anti-vaccine. Another leading Facebook post about Covid-19 vaccines last week was a highly inaccurate anti-vaccine rant from right-wing Candice Owens, according to FWIW, the newsletter that tracks digital ad spending.

Marjorie Taylor Green posted the first nationwide Facebook post about the vaccine Friday and called the removal of COVID disinformation “communism,” according to Facebook’s internal analysis tool Crowdtangle.

Taylor Greene – who has not been named in the top 12 publishers of misinformation but is often singled out for sharing lies about Covid and other issues – was temporarily suspended from Twitter on Monday. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

Biden’s stark condemnation comes as uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine stabilizes in the United States and new cases are on the rise again. The administration missed its July 4 goal of 70% of Americans to receive at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. As of July 8, only 67% of American adults have received a single dose of the vaccine, while 58% have been fully vaccinated.

Federal officials are increasingly blaming low vaccination rates and rising cases in the United States on social media platforms that have failed to police misinformation linked to vaccine hesitancy. “There is an overarching narrative being shared that the vaccine is ineffective,” said Vivek Murthy, US general surgeon recently. “False health information is a serious threat to public health.”

A Facebook spokesperson pointed to the Guardian in a blog post penned by Jay Rosen, Vice President of Content Policy, in which he confirmed that users of the platform have shown increased acceptance rates for the vaccine over the past six months.

“The data shows that 85% of Facebook users in the US have been vaccinated or would like to be vaccinated against Covid-19,” he said. “President Biden’s goal was to have 70% of Americans vaccinated by the Fourth of July. Facebook wasn’t the reason we missed that goal.”

The spread of false health information is the latest obstacle for social media companies as they stare at potential antitrust action. On Sunday, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar said action must be taken over vaccine misinformation.

“Social media has contributed significantly to this misinformation – there is no doubt about it,” she said. “When we’re facing a public health crisis and people are dying every day, that’s enough.”

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