NEW YORK (AP) — Have you liked or commented on a Facebook post about the COVID-19 pandemic that turned out to be a hoax?
The social media company says it is now going to let users know if they liked, reacted or commented on posts with harmful information about the virus that moderators later removed. Facebook says it will also direct people who engaged with those posts to information about virus myths debunked by the World Health Organization.
Facebook has banned ads promising coronavirus treatments or cures, but that hasn’t stopped all bad information from spreading quickly. Conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus and the vaccines being developed to prevent it still pop up daily.
The group Avaaz found more than 100 pieces of misinformation about the coronavirus on Facebook, which were viewed millions of times even after the claims had been marked as false or misleading by fact checkers.