Facebook announced on Thursday that it has removed Australian celebrity chef Pete Evans’ page for sharing misinformation about the coronavirus on the platform.
“We do not allow anyone to share misinformation about COVID-19 that could lead to imminent bodily harm or (about) COVID-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts,” Facebook said in a statement, Reuters said.
Evans, who has been accused of being a conspiracy theorist, routinely shared unproven claims on his Facebook page calling the coronavirus pandemic a “hoax” and “BS”. The former judge of the Australian cooking show “My Kitchen Rules” garnered nearly a million followers on his Facebook account, Reuters reported.
“We have a clear policy against this type of content and we have removed Chef Pete Evans’ Facebook page for repeated violations of this policy,” Facebook said, according to Reuters.
Evans has also encouraged his followers on Facebook not to get tested for the virus. He announced to his Instagram followers last month that he would no longer be posting to Facebook, but he continued until his page was officially taken down Thursday.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, has not said why Evan’s Instagram account could remain active, Reuters reported.
The social media giant announced earlier this month that it would begin removing misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine in an effort to further contain disinformation on the platform.