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from the threw-the-facebook-out-with-the-vax-water dept.
Facebook cracks down on vaccine misinformation
In a blog post, the Menlo Park, Calif. company said it will reject any ads containing misinformation about vaccines, remove any targeted advertising options like 'vaccine controversies,' and will no longer show or recommend content containing this type of misinformation on Instagram Explore or hashtag pages."
Submitted via IRC for FatPhil
Combatting Vaccine Misinformation
We are working to tackle vaccine misinformation on Facebook by reducing its distribution and providing people with authoritative information on the topic.
[...] Leading global health organizations, such as the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have publicly identified verifiable vaccine hoaxes. If these vaccine hoaxes appear on Facebook, we will take action against them.
For example, if a group or Page admin posts this vaccine misinformation, we will exclude the entire group or Page from recommendations, reduce these groups and Pages’ distribution in News Feed and Search, and reject ads with this misinformation.
We also believe in providing people with additional context so they can decide whether to read, share, or engage in conversations about information they see on Facebook. We are exploring ways to give people more accurate information from expert organizations about vaccines at the top of results for related searches, on Pages discussing the topic, and on invitations to join groups about the topic. We will have an update on this soon.
We are fully committed to the safety of our community and will continue to expand on this work.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 14 2019, @03:19PM (2 children)
And then define Homeopathy? How about herbal medicine?
Just because there are idiots doesn't imply they need a ban. Otherwise you'd have to ban creationism very quickly too. And then you ban religion. And then you ban stuff that doesn't make sense in science. And then political convenience. And then?
Leave the idiots to their own devices. The problem with facebook is not that there are idiots. It's that it allows smart people to use these idiots for their own purposes. And as we see it with things like Brexiters and Trump, these purposes are not necessarily financial but political. You are in land of direct propaganda campaigns by foreign governments. Before you only had things like Voice of America and it was rather difficult for other nations to use the "useful idiots" in another nation for their own purposes. It was difficult to get a message to them. Idiots had to turn on a radio station or setup satellite TV, and that radio station or satellite channel could even be jammed. But now, that changed. These "useful idiots" are on Facebook and are a click away from being found and indoctrinated.
We are in a world of empowered "useful idiots". The problem with that is you end up with them running amok, outside of the scope of what was intended. This is not an American problem. This is a people problem. Just look around the world and you find these idiots everywhere.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday March 14 2019, @03:21PM
You're going right down the road I spelled out.
There are some things most people would agree should be banned.
But you quickly get into things that maybe are disagreeable but should not be outright banned.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 4, Informative) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday March 14 2019, @04:40PM
Source [nih.gov]. If you have an alternate definition feel free to share.
Homeopathy =/= Herbal Medicine
Herbs and herbal remedies often have documentable, testable, and verifiable effects on the human body to various degrees. (To the degree that when medicines are prescribed they may have additive or counter-effects). This should not stop somebody from engaging in homeopathy when safe, if they feel it is going to help them the placebo effect may indeed have benefit. But nor do I have to acknowledge that homeopathy has any objective beneficial effect.
This sig for rent.