AGs Criticize Facebook and Twitter on 'Anti-Vaxxer' Content

By Josh Beckerman

A group of twelve attorneys general said Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. haven't done enough to prevent "anti-vaxxer" content, warning about false Covid-19 vaccine information from "individuals lacking medical expertise and often motivated by their own financial interests."

The attorneys general, led by William Tong of Connecticut, said anti-vaxxers have used Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube to "disproportionately target people of color and Black Americans specifically."

Facebook and Twitter have taken many steps in recent years to crack down on false content, including material about the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines.

A Facebook spokeswoman said the company has "updated our policies to remove millions of pieces of misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines from Facebook and Instagram - including 2 million since February alone -- and take stronger action against accounts that break our COVID-19 and vaccine rules."

Facebook has "labeled more than 167 million pieces of COVID-19 content rated false by our fact checking partners, and now are rolling out labels to any post that discusses vaccines," she said.

The AGs said Facebook has "failed to consistently apply misinformation labels and popups" and said it "has allowed anti-vaxxers to skirt its policy of removing misinformation" by failing to prevent them from using video and streaming tools, and sites like Bitchute, Rumble and Brighteon.

A Twitter spokesperson said the company has "removed more than 22,400 Tweets and challenged 11.7 million accounts worldwide, in line with our COVID-19 misleading information policy" and said "we prioritize the removal of content when it has a clear call to action that could potentially cause real-world harm, label Tweets that may contain misleading information, and take escalated enforcement action on repeat violators of this policy."

Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 24, 2021 14:33 ET (18:33 GMT)

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