Time to Call BS on Facebook Anti-antivax Gaslighting
They are taking very aggressive measures! It's a top priority for the company! It's a major cultural pivot! What a steaming load of bullshit!
I just went on to FB and typed "vaccine" into the search box and filtered the results for groups. The top two items were Vaccines Save Lives and Nurses Who Vaccinate. Good.
Then came two groups dedicated to reporting side effects, Report COVID-19 Side Effects (8400 members, 200 posts a day) and COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects (137K members, 1100 posts a day). I had a look at the latter, and it contains a mix of good and bad reports. But it also contains posts like "But a very good friend of mine was rushed to hospital with blood clots, nearly died, that’s not been reported!!!"
Next comes groups like against covid-19 vaccine, we are not 'anti-vax,' in general, we are anti-rna (408 members, 7 posts a day). Well that's a very important distinction that proves they are open minded! The first post invites people to "Join the Anti Covid 19 Vaccine Server Discord Server!" That one contains no disclaimer about only being against RNA vaccines.
Next on the list is No vaccine for me (649 members and 90 posts a day). "This group was created for those who trust God's immune system." M'kay, but I feel obligated to point out that God's immune system hasn't worked out so great for more than 3 million people. Probably they're all heathen.
Fourth Time's a Charm?
This is now the fourth time Facebook has announced that it is clamping down on vaccine disinformation. Last March they claimed they would "combat the spread" of vaccine disinfo. But they wouldn't take down posts entirely, because that would, like, cost them advertising revenue.
Then in October they announced that they would ban anti-vax ads, but not take down anti-vax posts. Because that would, like, cost them advertising revenue.
In early February, they announced they were not going to screw around anymore and banned all anti-vax ads AND posts. Finally!
Now here we are more than two months later, with yet another announcement of a crackdown. Yet at this very moment an ordinary user (me), using Facebook's own search tool (which pales in comparison to the analytic tools at Facebook's disposal) is getting five anti-vax groups in the top seven group search results, placed there by Facebook's algorithm. And that is just using the keyword "vaccine" without any other keywords about danger.
Give Us a Break
Carolyn, Mark, and all you other Facebook execs: We're not stupid. Instead of gaslighting us, just be honest and say "we're never banning this stuff because it makes us money, and you are powerless to stop us."
Also reporters, how about you do your homework and start questioning this Facebook propaganda? You can research their history just as easily as me. I even just gave you links.
Next time they announce a crackdown, instead of unquestioningly publishing whatever they say, call bullshit. Ask them to explain why they've announced crackdowns four times over the last year and they still have this problem.
Image by Thomas Ulrich from Pixabay
