Facebook will fight false information about COVID-19 directly with reports

Facebook sends notifications directly to users who like, share, or comment on COVID-19 posts that violate the company’s terms of service, according to a report by Fast company.

Here’s how this new feature works: If a user interacts with a post that is later deleted, Facebook will send a notification to the user stating that the post has been deleted. Clicking on the notification will take the user to a landing page with a screenshot of the message and a brief explanation of why it was removed. The landing page will also include links to COVID-19 educational resources and actions, such as unfollowing the group that posted it.

Image: Facebook, Fast company

This is an extension of Facebook’s previous efforts to combat misinformation. Prior to that, the company posted a banner on the news feed, urging users who had been involved with content that was removed to “Help friends and family avoid false information about Covid-19.” But users were often confused as to what the banner referred to, a Facebook product manager said Fast company. The hope is that the new approach will be more direct than the banner, while still avoiding users or exposing them to misinformation again.

Image: Facebook

Facebook’s modified approach arrives almost a year after the pandemic – a bit late. The reports do not invalidate claims in deleted messages. They also do not apply to messages that have been subsequently affixed with fact-checking labels, Fast company writes. That means less dangerous disinformation still has the potential to spread.

Facebook is slow to respond to misinformation that the company does not consider dangerous. While conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines have been spreading for months, Facebook only began removing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines in December. The question now is: is this too little and too late?