Facebook today announced that the company is taking a range of different steps to crack down on vaccine-related misinformation on its platforms. There’s been a lot of talk around anti-vaccination lately, and that has obviously led to a ton of misinformation online.
Facebook is now working with leading global health organizations to identify vaccine-related hoaxes and take action against them. The company will now reduce the rank of Facebook Groups and Pages that spread misinformation. These groups and pages will be automatically removed from recommendations and search predictions as a result.
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The company is also going to reject ads that include misinformation, and it will completely disable an ad account if they continue to advertise further misinformation. The social network is also going to stop people from targeting things like “vaccine controversies” on its network.
Instagram is affected as part of the latest crackdown, too — posts that contain misinformation will no longer be displayed on Instagram Explore or hashtag pages.
Facebook says the company is also looking to educate people about vaccines when they come across misinformation on the platform. The announcement comes just a day after Facebook announced its major privacy-focused transformation, and the company says it will continue to expand on today’s crackdown to help its network be safer.
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#409951">In reply to longhorn:</a></em></blockquote><p>As reported in 2015, the total number of settlements over 25 years in the US were 3,887. Even so, a settlement doesn't necessary indicate a connection between the vaccination and the illness. 80,000 people died in the US in 2017 from the flu. Not to mention all the people who died from other diseases that have been eradicated through vaccines. </p><p><br></p><p>If you live in <em>any </em>society, you don't get to do whatever you want in all cases. You say "not worthy of a Democracy", so if the majority voted in favor of mandatory vaccines you wouldn't have any objection?</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#409968">In reply to longhorn:</a></em></blockquote><p>As I said, you don't get 100% freedom. I think paying taxes to kill people in other countries should be a personal choice but if I want to live in the US (and not go to jail), I have to do it anyway. </p><p><br></p><p>I don't worry about "magic" drugs that turn you into a zombie. </p>
provision l-3
<blockquote><em><a href="#409951">In reply to longhorn:</a></em></blockquote><p class="ql-indent-1"><em>"If I take a vaccine shot but you don't then my vaccine shot doesn't work."</em></p><p>You either don't understand how vaccines work or don't understand the argument for vaccines because that in now way is the argument that healthcare professionals use. </p><p><br></p>
skane2600
<p>Lots of weird theories on the Premium side today. </p>
provision l-3
<blockquote><em><a href="#409955">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>Ugh, and it looks like some in there could use an overview on what free speech is or perhaps they think Facebook is actually the government. </p>
Thom77
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I don't see the big deal about this.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Its not like the vaccine companies basically have immunity from civil actions resulting from injury or death from the normal administration of their product.</span></p><p><br></p><p>I mean, if that was the case, it would sure raise my suspicions about the safety of these products. </p><p><br></p><p>oh wait ….</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><h1>42 U.S. Code § 300aa–22.Standards of responsibility</h1><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#409967">In reply to Thom77:</a></em></blockquote><p>The safety of a vaccine is entirely determined by the vaccine itself, not its potential liability.</p>
provision l-3
<p>It seems to me that Facebook seems to be consistently chasing progress while acting like they are driving it. </p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#410028">In reply to red.radar:</a></em></blockquote><p>In the context of a private company, there is no such thing as protected speech. In any case, most anti-vax statements couldn't be described as "accurately communicating risks". </p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#410215">In reply to Daekar:</a></em></blockquote><p>Science hasn't taken a definitive stance on fats vs carbs, it was people promoting a particular diet that made the claims. You have to look at the relative complexity of these questions too. Determining the lifetime effect of the particular food you consume is far harder to determine than the well established understanding of how vaccines work.</p><p><br></p><p>We know of the great success vaccines have had, but if some new scientific finding contradicts the conclusions (although it would be a bit like proving airplanes can't really fly), the refined understanding will be eventually adopted. But it doesn't make sense to not take advantage of the understanding of the world we have now just because science got some things wrong in the past.</p><p><br></p><p>Also credible scientific debate doesn't happen on Facebook.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#410417">In reply to Greg Green:</a></em></blockquote><p>I'm not sure how relevant that is to the vacs debate, but my general observation is that as medical science progresses, theories that diseases are based on personal behavior tend to be discredited and your ulcer example is a good illustration of that. The idea of health by good behavior I call "The Protestant Health Ethic". </p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#410153">In reply to dnglws75:</a></em></blockquote><p>There isn't a direct correlation between payout amounts and the relative frequency of payoffs. And of course payoffs aren't proof that people were harmed by a vaccine in every case. The more meaningful statistic is that for every 1 million people who got a vaccine 1 person received a payout. That's 0.0001%.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#410422">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>I don't know why my post in response to dnglws75's comment keeps ending up a the top of the discussion instead of nested where it belongs.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#410610">In reply to zeratul456:</a></em></blockquote><p>Another post that didn't end up where you posted it. I wonder what's going on.</p>
skane2600
<p><br></p><p>Unvaccinated boy nearly died from tetanus. The cost of his care was almost $1 million. : nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/unvaccinated-boy-almost-died-tetanus-hospital-bill-was-more-800-n981256</p>