Facebook recently announced a ban on ads that “discourage people from getting vaccinated, in light of the coronavirus pandemic,” the social media company announced recently as it launched a new public health campaign aimed at spreading flu vaccine information.
The company said that the changes are a departure from Facebook’s previous policy, which will not allow ads with misinformation about vaccines but it will allow ads that express opposition to vaccines if they do not have false information. The company also stated that the ban on anti-vaccine ads is part of a new way to support immunization efforts all over the world encouraging people to get a flu shot.
“We don’t want these ads on our platform,” Facebook officials Kang-Xing Jin and Rob Leathern stated.
“Our goal is to help messages about the safety and efficacy of vaccines reach a broad group of people, while prohibiting ads with misinformation that could harm public health efforts,” the statement noted.
They said the new policy also applies on Instagram, and that it will begin enforcing it in the next few days.
The new policy builds on an existing policy that bans ads which contain “vaccine hoaxes.”
“Now, if an ad explicitly discourages someone from getting a vaccine, we’ll reject it,” The company stated.
POP! Creator Community / Alexandra Del Mundo
