A damning new report says Facebook is a ‘major threat’ to public health

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Everyone knows Facebook is full of misinformation. Now, depending on who you talk to, that supposed misinformation comes from many different sides. I mean, there are people out there who still believe the Plandemic video.

Now, a new study from activist group Avaaz looks at just how much medical misinformation is on the platform, and what kind of reach it has. The results are staggering. In total, global health misinformation spanning across at least five countries generated 3.8 billion views in the last year, according to Avaaz. The report goes as far as to call Facebook a “major threat” to public health.

In addition, “Content from the top 10 websites spreading health misinformation had almost four times as many estimated views on Facebook as equivalent content from the websites of 10 leading health institutions, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

In total, Avaaz identified 42 Facebook pages as the main drivers of misinformation regarding various health topics. Those pages are followed by nearly 28 million people and have generated nearly 800 million views.

Below, you can see the top 10 websites that drive health misinformation campaigns on Facebook:

When looking at actually Facebook Pages, these are the top offenders:

Because nothing screams real medical advice quite like “Realfarmacy.com.”

The type of content that was spread through these misinformation websites included:

• An article claiming that Bill Gates sponsored a polio vaccination that was responsible for the paralysis of 500k children only in India. The article received more than 8 million views on Facebook.
• An article full of phony cures for a variety of deadly diseases. This article was viewed 4.5 million times on Facebook.
• An article suggesting that quarantine is harmful to public health. The article received over 2.4 million views.

A huge influx in misinformation regarding health issues started around the time COVID-19 began spreading around much of the world, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Avaaz notes that Facebook tried to promote reliable sources, but at the same time, its algorithms were actively promoting networks that spread false information.

Now, where have we heard about Facebook promoting garbage before…

There’s a lot more that we didn’t cover here, so make sure to check out the full study at Avaaz.

What do you think? Surprised by the results of this study? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Facebook finally does the bare minimum by removing violent QAnon groups and pages
• In a move that everybody hates, Oculus VR headsets will require a Facebook account
• Instagram will make users prove their identity if an account shows suspicious behavior
• Twitter has finally rolled out its new reply feature to help cut down on unwanted conversation

Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.