Facebook is rolling out a new feature that will send notifications to users when interacting with a COVID-19 post that violates the platform’s terms of service. This move is the latest in Facebook’s effort to stop the spread of misinformation about the pandemic.
As reported by business magazine, Fast Company, users will be notified if they share, comment, or like any post related to COVID-19 misinformation. The notification will inform users that the post was deleted, explaining why and recommended next steps such as unfollowing the publisher of the deceitful post or blocking them. These informative alerts will also contain links to coronavirus resources.
In March, during the early days of the pandemic and shutdowns, the company implemented an accurate information feature linked to health organizations at the top of news feeds. The notification feature follows the company’s announcement on December 3rd that they would be purging both Facebook and Instagram of harmful information about the coronavirus vaccine.
“The challenge we were facing and the fine balance we’re trying to strike is how do we provide enough information to give the user context about [the interaction] we’re talking about without reexposing them to misinformation,” said Facebook product manager Valerio Magliulo, who assisted with the new system.
Twitter has also taken steps to eliminate misinformation on its platform by testing a “misleading information” warning anytime a user likes a tweet containing unverified or outright false information.
