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LIKE YOUTUBE AND PINTEREST, FACEBOOK LAUNCHES THE HUNT FOR ANTI-VACCINE MESSAGES


    LIKE YOUTUBE AND PINTEREST, FACEBOOK LAUNCHES THE HUNT FOR ANTI-VACCINE MESSAGES



    LIKE YOUTUBE AND PINTEREST, FACEBOOK LAUNCHES THE HUNT FOR ANTI-VACCINE MESSAGES
    Facebook.com


    Health in the United States, and elsewhere, are accusing major social networks of allowing the anti-vaccine movement to grow.

    Facebook is trying to redeem an image. While Mark Zuckerberg assured that he would change course to further respect privacy, his company announced, on Thursday, that it would actively fight against misinformation messages about vaccines. It is worth mentioning, YouTube Pinterest had announced similar measures, by the end of February. 

    "We are working to combat false information about vaccines on Facebook, reducing the spread of messages and providing people with authoritative information on the subject," said Monika Bickert, head of Global Policy Management.

     Reduce the scope of pages that peddle false information 

    Concretely, Facebook will reduce the scope of groups and pages that disseminate this false information in the ‘wire of information’ and in the thread of ‘research’. "These groups and pages will no longer be included in the recommendations when you type them in the search window," elaborated Monika Bickert. Additionally, advertisements, which contain fake news about vaccines, will also be rejected.

     "We are also removing options that could lead to targeted information, such as controversy vaccines,” confirmed the Facebook official.

     She added that the network is currently exploring how to share vaccine education information very widely; when people come across false information on the subject. One of the tracks is to go back in the wire of the researches to reconsider the information of undisputed experts. 

    Number of unvaccinated children increases in the United States

     In the United States and elsewhere, major social networks are accused of allowing the anti-vaccine movement to develop. 

    According to US health authorities, the percentage of children reaching two years of age without any vaccination has increased from 0.9% of children born in 2011 to 1.3% of those born in 2015. 

    Over more than a decade, a large study of more than 650,000 Danish children has reached the same conclusion as several previous studies. It concluded that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine does not increase the risk of autism, unlike what is claimed by some people on the networks.