For many years, Facebook has been known for tolerating misinformation on explosive topics such as Brexit or the US presidential election. The first countermeasures were taken in the wake of the corona pandemic, in which posts containing misinformation about the spread of the virus or other conspiracy theories were either marked with a corresponding note or later deleted.

25 million posts deleted

A total of 80 untrue claims relating to the topic of Corona, disinfectants, masks, medication and vaccinations were defined, which are currently banned on the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.

According to Meta, over 25 million posts, some with life-threatening content, were deleted during the course of the pandemic. Less dangerous disinformation was marked with a warning that was intended to alert the user that these were posts with dubious content. As early as April 2020, 50 million posts of this type were flagged.

No more need

Meta is still interested in not offering a platform for false claims and in providing users with reliable information, but the question is now being asked as to whether it might not be time to also encourage measures on social media. The “Oversight Board”, an independent body that advises the company on censorship issues, should be consulted for this purpose. In order to resolve the tensions between security and freedom of expression, Meta wants to increasingly focus on labeling incorrect content instead of deleting it.  

Committee advises

However, it is still uncertain at this point whether this ban against disinformation regarding Covid-19 will actually be lifted. Even if the independent committee is involved, the group is not bound to their decision.  

Source: futurezone , heise

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“Doxing”: Meta should tighten rules
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