Facebook, Facing Lawmaker Questions, Says It May Remove Anti-Vaccine Recommendations
Facebook, Facing Lawmaker Questions, Says It May Remove
Anti-Vaccine Recommendations
By Sarah Frier February 14, 2019, 10:36 AM PST
Facebook Inc., under pressure to reduce harmful,
misleading and fake content, said it is exploring removing anti-vaccine
information from software systems that recommend other things to read on its
social network.
Information discouraging people from getting vaccines for
their children, which has gone viral on Facebook, especially in its Groups
product, may have contributed to an increase in outbreaks of measles. The
crisis drew attention on Thursday from Representative Adam Schiff, who sent a
letter to Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and Google boss
Sundar Pichai, asking them to address the problem.
In response, Facebook said it is “exploring additional
measures to best combat the problem," according to a statement from the
company. That might include “reducing or removing this type of content from
recommendations, including Groups You Should Join, and demoting it in search
results, while also ensuring that higher quality and more authoritative
information is available."
Google, which did not immediately respond to a comment
about Schiff’s letter, has already been taking similar measures. Last month,
Google’s YouTube unfurled a change in the way it recommends videos -- an
automated system that has been criticized for promoting misinformation. YouTube
said it would starting cutting videos with "borderline content" that
"misinform users in harmful ways" from its recommendation system. The
company only offered three examples. One was videos that promote "a phony
miracle cure for a serious illness."
Schiff, a Democrat from California, cited several reasons
tech companies should be taking action. The World Health Organization listed
reluctance or refusal to get vaccines as a top threat to global health this
year. Also, he highlighted a resurgence of measles in Clark County, Washington.
“There is strong evidence to suggest that at least part
of the source of this trend is the degree to which medically inaccurate
information about vaccines surface on the websites where many Americans get
their information,” Schiff wrote. “The algorithms which power these services
are not designed to distinguish quality information from misinformation or
misleading information, and the consequences of that are particularly troubling
for public health issues.”
The first result under a search for "vaccines"
on YouTube is a video showing a “middle ground” debate between supporters of
vaccines and those who think they’re dangerous. The fourth result is first
episode of a popular anti-vaccine documentary series called “The Truth About
Vaccines.” It has almost 1.2 million views.
— With assistance by Mark Bergen, Gerrit De Vynck, and
Ben Brody
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