Creating conspiracy theories seems to be a great pastime for many, but not if it comes at the cost of someone. Keeping this in mind, Facebook Inc. recently banned an account on its social media platform, which was indulging in creating and sharing conspiracy theories about Microsoft co-foudner Bill Gates. The theories in question claimed that the business tycoon has a link to COVID vaccines.
Spreading Misinformation about Bill Gates
The owner of the Facebook account, one Erin Elizabeth, had been spreading misinformation about the businessperson and philanthropist, for the past few weeks. Through the account, Elizabeth was claiming that Gates had been inserting microchips into people through the vaccination programme, by planting them in the vaccines.
Disinformation Dozen
Erin Elizabeth was listed in the “Disinformation Dozen” list, published by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), and is known to be a hard-core anti-vaxx (people spreading misinformation to cause encourage others to not get vaccinated against the COVID).
The CCDH report had implored Facebook Inc. to enforce stronger standards, in order to fix the mess that is being created by anti-vaxxers.
Bill Gates Responds, Elizabeth Responds Too
Talking about the allegations and misinformation that Elizabeth had been serving against him, Bill Gates said, “I’ve never been involved any sort of microchip type thing … It’s almost hard to deny this stuff because it’s so stupid or strange.”
Following this, Facebook took down Elizabeth’s account, based on its updated policies about vaccine misinformation. Elizabeth then proceeded to call the platform out, through a tweet. She said, : “ALL my Facebook pages and groups and even my personal page totaling millions. All my Instagram pages including my public page. No violations. Everything gone.”
A Different Reason
As a twist in the story, an unauthorized source has claimed that Facebook did not ban the account because it was indulging I spreading misinformation. Instead, the ban came as a result of “spammy and inauthentic beahviour”. The source added that the account was relying on false behaviour and spams to build their fantasy and follower strength.
