Article Author:
Associated Press
David Klepper
Instagram and Facebook announced this week that an anti-vaccine group led by Robert Kennedy Jr. has issued rules banning misinformation about child health defense. suspended Children's Health Defense from its platform after repeated violations of COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus Infectious Disease.
Children's Health Defense, a non-profit organization, is one of the most influential anti-vaccine organizations active on social media, fighting the pandemic. It spreads misleading claims about vaccines and other public health measures designed to control.
In a statement, Kennedy likened Facebook's actions to government censorship. But Facebook is a private company that can set and enforce its own rules about disinformation.
Children's Health Defense had hundreds of thousands of followers at the time of the suspension, according to the organization's statement.
Public health advocates and misinformation experts have criticized Facebook for not acting more quickly to contain potentially harmful misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines.
Karen Cornbleu, director of the German Marshall Fund's Digital Innovation and Democracy Initiative, said that too many organizations, like Children's Health Defense, have been working for too long.
"Today's action is too late," she said, noting that the group remains on Twitter. There are too many,” Kornbleu said, adding that tech companies must address why misinformation spreads so easily on social media.
Facebook and Instagram said Thursday that confirmed the company's actions in a statement to the AP.
"We have removed these accounts for repeated violations of our policies," said a spokesperson for the parent company of Meta, Facebook and Instagram. He told the AP that the platform's policy usually only applies to suspensions for multiple violations. will be
Several state-affiliated groups for Children's Health Defense remain on Facebook and Instagram despite the national organization's ban. Kennedy was banned from Instagram last year, but he still maintains an active account on Facebook.
