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Combatting Vaccine Misinformation on Facebook

posted by chromas on Thursday March 14 2019, @01:20PM   
from the threw-the-facebook-out-with-the-vax-water dept.

realDonaldTrump writes:

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."

upstart writes:

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.

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Original Submission 0; Original Submission 1

• Re:it will reject any ads containing misinformatioRe:it will reject any ads containing misinformatio (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday March 23 2019, @01:25PM (2 children)

  by khallow (3766) on Saturday March 23 2019, @01:25PM (#818754) Journal

  I'm proposing a mechanism by which if they can dominate they may have earned the right to control, yes.

  Or even if they haven't earned the right, but just took over the mechanism.

  Because that seems like reality to me.

  Perception != reality.

  Which is why I'm damned sure that in this instance they should never earn that ability, unlikely as that may be.

  If such a tendency existed in the first place, we wouldn't have had things like the Nazi takeover of Germany.

  Parent

• Re:it will reject any ads containing misinformatio(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday March 25 2019, @03:01PM

  by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Monday March 25 2019, @03:01PM (#819545) Journal

  Or even if they haven't earned the right, but just took over the mechanism.

  Which might be prima facie evidence that they have earned the right, in the sense of survival of the fittest - if they gain a majority they have the control.

  Perception != reality.

  Perception ∧ reality for most values of both.

  If such a tendency existed in the first place, we wouldn't have had things like the Nazi takeover of Germany.

  Or the Nazi takeover of Germany and the memory of the holocaust is what feeds the desire to ensure that they cannot earn the ability again. And what makes such mechanisms sadly necessary, dangerous as they are.

  --
  This sig for rent.

  Parent

• Re:it will reject any ads containing misinformatio(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday March 25 2019, @03:16PM

  by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Monday March 25 2019, @03:16PM (#819552) Journal

  On the other other hand, I may be wrong. [soylentnews.org]

  --
  This sig for rent.

  Parent