The management team of Facebook, Inc. decided to make a step in the ongoing combat with the pandemic and related public features, such as misinformation about anti-Covid vaccines.
"The move expands Facebook’s current rules against falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the pandemic. The social media company says it takes down coronavirus misinformation that poses a risk of “imminent” harm, while labeling and reducing distribution of other false claims that fail to reach that threshold. Facebook said in a blog post that the global policy change came in response to news that COVID-19 vaccines will soon be rolling out around the world", reads the story by Reuters.
Facebook claimed the decision was made as the response to certain topics becoming the core of what Reuters decsribes as "vaccine conspiracies" - namely, the safety of vaccines that "is being tested on specific populations without their consent, and misinformation about the vaccines".
The company did not point out when this policy would begin, but admitted it was not an immediate step to be taken.