Chhavideep Singh
Source: Forbes
There are all kinds of people believing different stories on the origin of coronavirus but sharing these thoughts on Facebook, especially those which claim Coronavirus to be man-made is a violation of the social media company’s policy and guidelines on the spread of misinformation.
Recently, Facebook has announced to no longer pull down and ban posts claiming the novel coronavirus to be man-made. It agrees with what scientists have to say about the origin of the disease. The debate on this hot topic has been going on since 2019-end, entire 2020 and now 2021 as well. Major social media platforms had implemented new rules and policies regarding the spread of misinformation on COVID-19 and its vaccination but the struggle to curb this massively heavy fire of misinformation is still taking a lot of efforts from the companies, especially Facebook because it is the most influential social media platform.
Anyhow, the social media conglomerate will no longer ban posts claiming the COVID-19 virus to be man-made after a renewed debate on the topic of its origin, according to Reuters. The Facebook spokesperson says that in the light of the ongoing investigation of the origin of coronavirus and in consultation with public health experts, Facebook will no longer remove such claims regarding coronavirus being called man-made from any of the company’s apps including WhatsApp and Instagram.
It is surprising to see Facebook’s struggle for the truth to be out there. Up till now, the social media company was doing everything in its power to stop the spread of misinformation regarding COVID-19 and its vaccination on its platform to support the truth about the pandemic and make each and every user aware of the situation around the globe. Now, when scientists and public health experts have debated and drawn the conclusion that the coronavirus is man-made, Facebook will support that and not ban the content that claims so.
The Facebook spokesperson also mentioned that the company is continuously working with public health experts to keep pace with the evolving nature of COVID-19 around the globe and will make sure to update the company policies as new trends and facts tend to emerge, according to a report by Reuters.
In the light of misinformation being spread on its social media platforms, Facebook claims to have removed over 16 million articles, post and content in general containing misinformation on COVID-19 or its vaccination.
Facebook is working with the United States government to dissipate as much verified and factual information as possible and is even encouraging users to get vaccinated as soon as possible. The social media platform is also helping citizens to book vaccination appointments online to boost the government’s vaccination drive in the United States.