Groups on Facebook have been known to create echo chambers of misinformation and have fueled the rise of anti-vaccine communities and rhetoric. Under the new policy, groups where users repeatedly share banned content will be shut down.
Facebook has repeatedly updated its policies on Covid-19 content as the pandemic has evolved. In April 2020, it began to add to posts about coronavirus a panel of facts from the CDC to combat misinformation. It often made misinformation about vaccines less visible on its platform but stopped short of removing it.
This began to change in December, when the company strengthened its coronavirus policies and began to remove posts about Covid-19 that had been debunked by public health experts. This included posts suggesting vaccines contain microchips, claims that wearing a face mask does not help prevent the spread of Covid-19, and claims that 5G technology contributes to or causes coronavirus infections.
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