By Brian Fung, CNN
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is mulling over whether its policies oppose COVID-19 misinformation, and proposes to move from removing false claims to simply labeling or degrading them.
The social media giant on Tuesday asked its independent oversight board for an opinion on whether its stricter policies against the pandemic are still justified, raising higher vaccination rates around the world, as well as the company’s own efforts to publicize reliable data on Covid-19.
One option to remove false claims, the company suggested, would be to tag them or remove them from users’ feeds, either by having Meta respond directly to reports or by outsourcing these jobs to its third-party fact-checkers, whose reports can incentivize Metaalgorithms to decrease the visibility of claims classified as false.
“Meta remains committed to combating incorrect information about COVID-19 and providing others with reliable information,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, wrote in a blog post. But, he added, “as the pandemic has evolved, the time has come for us to seek the Oversight Board’s recommendation on our measures to combat incorrect information about COVID-19, adding whether those that presented themselves at the beginning of an ordinary global crisis remain the right method for the coming months and years.
Meta’s existing policies explicitly prohibit a wide variety of false claims related to covid-19, such as the fact that the disease can be transmitted through 5G wireless generation or that covid-19 testing can infect you with the virus. The company has indexed up to 80 different types of false claims that can be removed from its platforms, Clegg said, and has gotten rid of more than 25 million pieces of noncompliant content.
Clegg called Meta’s initial resolution to initiate those claims an unprecedented step brought about by the global fitness emergency.
“The update meant that, for the first time, the policy would provide for the elimination of entire categories of misrepresentation on a global scale,” he wrote.
But now, as Meta considers scaling back the policy, the false allegations may have more leeway over the company’s services.
Clegg described the company’s thinking and its request for recommendation from the oversight board as an effort to “the inherent tensions between free speech and security. “
El-CNN-Wire™
KVIA ABC 7 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation.
Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can view our Community Guidelines by clicking here
If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here.
Terms of Use| Privacy Policy| | Community Rules
KVIA-TV FCC | FCC public registry | Applications
Don’t sell my information