Early findings from a Facebook internal study of coronavirus vaccine doubts reportedly include an overlap between users who are skeptical of vaccines and accounts related to the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Facebook’s internal investigation looks at posts that are not covered by the vaccine misinformation ban, but are in a more gray area, The Washington Post reported Sunday. documents about the study.
As part of the study, Facebook’s data scientists divided US users, groups, and pages into 638 population segments to look at those hesitant beliefs about vaccines, the Post reported.
Early evidence of the internal findings points to an overlap between the communities skeptical of vaccines and the communities affiliated with the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, the Post said.
Facebook had pledged in October to ban all accounts affiliated with the conspiracy theory.
However, users are constantly forming new QAnon groups, accounts and pages using hostile tactics that try to hide their connection to the conspiracy theory, according to Facebook. While Facebook identifies the pages, they will be deleted, the company says.
Initial findings from the internal study also reportedly suggest that most of the hesitant content of vaccines comes from a relatively small subset of users.
The internal study found that only 10 of the 638 population segments showed half of all vaccine hesitations on the platform, and in the population segment with the most vaccine reluctance, only 111 users contributed to half of the population, according to the Post. that hesitation.
The document viewed by the Post did not identify how Facebook defined a segment or grouped community, but noted that the segments could contain at least 3 million people.
Facebook says it is standard practice to study the types of content on its platforms to understand trends and identify emerging issues to determine measures against potentially harmful content.
The reported study is just one way Facebook has taken action to combat coronavirus vaccine misinformation amid increasing government scrutiny over the handling of such false claims.
“Since the start of the pandemic, we have partnered with more than 60 global health experts and have studied content related to COVID-19, including vaccines and misinformation, to inform our policies,” Facebook spokesman Dani Lever said in a statement. .
Facebook “routinely studies” issues such as COVID-19, voting, bias, and hate speech to “understand emerging trends to understand emerging trends so we can build, refine and measure our products,” Lever said.
“Public health experts have made it clear that tackling hesitant vaccines is a top priority in the COVID response, which is why we launched a global campaign that has already connected 2 billion people with reliable information from health experts and removed false claims about COVID. and vaccines. This ongoing work will help inform our efforts, ”added Lever.
In February, Facebook said it would remove all disproved claims about the coronavirus vaccine during the pandemic, and on Monday the company said it had removed 2 million pieces of content from Facebook and Instagram.
In a blog post on Monday, Facebook also said it would expand its efforts to combat coronavirus misinformation by adding labels to all posts discussing the vaccines.
Facebook said it will initially add labels with information from the World Health Organization to posts discussing vaccine safety and will roll out labels in the coming weeks for more general posts about the vaccines that will refer users to vaccine information.
Facebook’s push to update its policy comes next President Biden
Joe Biden The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – Biden to hit road, tout COVID-19 relief law Oregon senator takes center stage in Democratic filibuster debate This week: Democrats see next step after coronavirus bill win MORE‘s address last week which stated that all American adults will be eligible for the vaccine by May 1.
Polls, meanwhile, have indicated there will be concerns regarding vaccine reluctance – especially among certain populations.
A PBS NewsHour / NPR / Marist poll published last week found that nearly 30 percent of Americans in general said they do not plan to get vaccinated. Among men who identify as Republican, the same poll found that nearly half said they have no plans to get the coronavirus vaccine.