Facebook Attempts to End the Spreading of Deceptive Health Claim
Following the latest announcement from Facebook, the social media platform is trying to put a bar on the audience reach of the posts making buzz-worthy health claims, to stop the spread of misinformation.
Social media platforms witness the circulation of doubtful health information almost every single day. From questionable alternative therapies for cancer to unjustified wellness claims, social media sites, such as YouTube and Facebook, get flooded with bogus health information every minute. Many of such claims and therapies are unproven and vague and can be fatal if the patients start relying on them rather than following the doctor-prescribed care.
The new policy of Facebook will take a measure for preventing the circulation of such kind of content. The announcement stated, “People don’t like posts that are sensational or spammy, and misleading health content is particularly bad for our community.” The social media platform will also not entertain the posts advertising services or products that are based upon unjustified health claims.
However, instead of eliminating the buzz-worthy health posts directly, Facebook will modify how they are ranked in the News Feeds of the users so that less number of people view them. The posts which contain certain mostly used phrases will be displayed lower in the News Feed of the users. The idea is the same that the social media platform uses for limiting the clickbait influence.
This is not the first attempt of Facebook to enhance the health information quality on its platform. Just like Pinterest and YouTube, this site has also implemented updates purposed for limiting the circulation of untrue anti-vaccine content, previously. In March, the social media platform announced that it is working closely with groups, such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization for identifying unproven vaccine claims in order to take strict steps against dubious posts circulating on the site.
