Government Urged To Crack Down On Anti-Vaccine 'Lies' As Social Media Giants 'Fail To Act'
Social media giants have been accused of failing to act on “dangerous lies” that are fuelling anti-vaccine misinformation and the coronavirus – even when it is reported to them.
A group of young volunteers scoured social networks and found 912 posts between July 21 and August 26, but only 4.9% were acted on after being flagged.
False posts that were uncovered range from suggesting vaccines can change people’s DNA or are poisonous, to widely-disputed claims linking the virus to 5G.
The Failure to Act report, by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and Restless Development, said Facebook took action on 33 of the 569 pieces of content brought to its attention, while Instagram acted on six out of 144 reported.
On Twitter, six out of 137 were dealt with, but on YouTube no action was taken on the 41 reported to the video sharing website.
Examples of the content reported to the platforms which was left online include false claims that vaccines change people’s DNA, are poisonous and cause autism and cancer. They also suggested Bill Gates wishes the world’s population to be “micro-chipped”, people who refuse vaccines will be forced into starvation and 5G mobile technology kills.
The two groups say social networks are failing to act on their own policies.
Researchers also said that platforms have still not acted on three-quarters of misinformation highlighted in its previous report published in June.
A letter to home secretary Priti Patel, health secretary Matt Hancock, and culture secretary Oliver Dowden – signed by medics including Adam Kay, Dr Ellie Cannon, Dr Phil Hammond and Dr Dawn Harper – is calling for legislation to prevent dangerous misinformation about health and medicine being spread online.
“A coronavirus vaccine is our best hope of a return to normality,” said Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
“It would be a tragedy if it was unsuccessful in eradicating this disease because of lies told to...
