Facebook has announced the launch of a new campaign to tackle misinformation surrounding the Covid-19 vaccine. The social media platform has partnered with UK based fact-checking charity Full Fact on a media literacy campaign which it hopes will help “give people additional resources to scrutinise content they see online”.

Full Fact gets the majority of its funding from Facebook, with smaller amounts from eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar, Google and other sources. The charity’s total revenues in 2019 were less than £2m, approximately 0.003% of Facebook’s. Full Fact has been engaged in efforts to fact-check Facebook content since 2019, a process described by the two organisations as “third party” checks.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Related Company Profiles

View all

Their latest joint campaign, named “Together Against Covid-19 Misinformation”, will be rolled out to users in EU, UK, Norway, Iceland and Turkey, as well as some countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Online ads featuring graphics urging users to check the source of information, ask how the information makes them feel and check the context will appear on the Facebook homepage during the next month.

Facebook is also launching a separate website dedicated to providing information on how it is tackling misinformation on its platform.

Facebook, along with other social media platforms, has received criticism for its handling of misinformation and in the past has been a breeding ground for vaccine conspiracy.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

In October last year, the California-based company defended its decision not to ban anti-vaccination content, saying “by leaving this content up we can provide people with important information and context instead of creating an information vacuum.” Last month it announced it would begin banning anti-vaccination posts from its platform.

Steve Hatch, vice president for Northern Europe at Facebook, said: “The fight against Covid-19 is at a critical stage and connecting people with accurate information is more important than ever. Improving media literacy in partnership with Full Fact is one of a number of steps we’ve taken to tackle coronavirus related misinformation.”

Hatch also said Facebook was “working in lockstep with the government and NHS” and that it had “removed over 12 million pieces of misinformation” on the virus from its platforms.

Facebook attracted criticism last month after a dispute with the Australian government over paying news publishers for the use of their content led the social giant to attempt a ban on such news content Down Under. The ban was erratically implemented, with government health authorities finding that they had also been blocked – a situation of particular concern during a pandemic.

Read More: Twitter introduces “strike system” for vaccine misinformation.