Facebook will now warn you if you’ve interacted with fake, dangerous coronavirus posts

Facebook has announced new measures to tackle the spread of COVID-19 misinformation by alerting users when they have interacted with fake or dangerous content.

On Thursday, Facebook’s vice president of Integrity, Guy Rosen, said in a blog post that the social media giant is going to start notifying users when they have liked, reacted to, or commented on debunked coronavirus-related content.

The firm’s team of moderators are constantly removing misinformation surrounding the pandemic, including fake ‘cure-all’ or preventative product promotion, posts encouraging the use of dangerous substances such as bleach as curative, fake statistics, unfounded conspiracy theories, and more.

If a user has previously interacted with content that has since been proven as false by the World Health Organization (WHO) and removed, Facebook will then forward a message containing a shareable link to the WHO’s page concerning the COVID-19 rumor mill and fact-checking resources.

“These messages will connect people to COVID-19 myths debunked by the WHO including ones we’ve removed from our platform for leading to imminent physical harm,” Rosen said. “We want to connect people who may have interacted with harmful misinformation about the virus with the truth from authoritative sources in case they see or hear these claims again off of Facebook.”

During March alone, warnings were slapped on roughly 40 million misinformation posts relating to COVID-19 and “hundreds of thousands” of pieces of content that could cause harm have been wiped off the platform.

Stopping the spread of misinformation is not something Facebook moderators can manage alone, and as a result, the social network has partnered with over 60 external fact-checking organizations worldwide.

Facebook says that over two billion users have already been redirected to WHO myth-busting resources. Across Facebook and Instagram, over 350 million people have clicked through to the company’s official COVID-19 Information Center.

The changes to Facebook’s platform come on the heels of a new report issued by Avaaz that deems the company’s actions “commendable,” but claims there are still “significant delays” in taking down coronavirus misinformation.

The research suggests that it can currently take up to 22 days for warning labels to appear on dubious COVID-19 content.

In related news this week, Facebook chose to cancel all physical events, such as technology conferences and company meetups, until June 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Any event due to host 50 people or more is now scrapped until next summer and the majority of Facebook employees will continue to work from home in the coming months.

“Most Facebook employees are fortunate to be able to work productively from home, so we feel a responsibility to allow people who don’t have this flexibility to access shared public resources first,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.

Hot this week

The Hidden Dangers of Over Reliance on Security Tools

Adding more security tools can increase complexity and blind spots instead of improving protection, so focus on integration and training over new purchases.

How Poor MFA Setup Increases Your Attack Surface

Multi-factor authentication is essential for security, but flawed implementation can expose your organization to greater risks than having no MFA at all. Learn how to properly configure MFA to avoid common pitfalls and strengthen your defenses.

The Blind Spots in Your Vulnerability Management Program

Automated vulnerability scanning often creates dangerous blind spots by missing nuanced threats that require human analysis, leading to false confidence in security postures.

Multi Factor Authentication Myths That Put Your Data at Risk

Multi-factor authentication creates a false sense of security when implemented without understanding its vulnerabilities, particularly in global contexts where method choices matter more than checkbox compliance.

The Overlooked Flaws in Multi Factor Authentication

Multi factor authentication is often presented as a security panacea, but hidden flaws and implementation gaps can leave organizations vulnerable despite compliance checkboxes.

Topics

The Hidden Dangers of Over Reliance on Security Tools

Adding more security tools can increase complexity and blind spots instead of improving protection, so focus on integration and training over new purchases.

How Poor MFA Setup Increases Your Attack Surface

Multi-factor authentication is essential for security, but flawed implementation can expose your organization to greater risks than having no MFA at all. Learn how to properly configure MFA to avoid common pitfalls and strengthen your defenses.

The Blind Spots in Your Vulnerability Management Program

Automated vulnerability scanning often creates dangerous blind spots by missing nuanced threats that require human analysis, leading to false confidence in security postures.

Multi Factor Authentication Myths That Put Your Data at Risk

Multi-factor authentication creates a false sense of security when implemented without understanding its vulnerabilities, particularly in global contexts where method choices matter more than checkbox compliance.

The Overlooked Flaws in Multi Factor Authentication

Multi factor authentication is often presented as a security panacea, but hidden flaws and implementation gaps can leave organizations vulnerable despite compliance checkboxes.

The Hidden Costs of Security Compliance

Compliance frameworks often create security blind spots by prioritizing checkbox exercises over real threat mitigation, leading to breaches despite passing audits.

The Illusion of AI in Cybersecurity

AI security tools often create alert fatigue instead of protection, but focusing on human oversight and measured deployment can turn them into effective assets.

The Overlooked Risk of Shadow IT

Shadow IT poses a greater risk than many external threats by bypassing security controls, and managing it effectively requires understanding employee needs rather than simply blocking unauthorized tools.
spot_img

Related Articles

Popular Categories