Facebook made a notable alteration to its misinformation policies this week. The platform decided that it would no longer censor posts that suggest COVID-19 was man-made.
WIDESPREAD SPECULATION
Previously, the widely accepted consensus was that the virus was contracted naturally from animals. However, on May 26, U.S. President Biden ordered a multi-agency intelligence report looking into the origin of the virus. Since the pandemic began, there has been speculation of the virus being a lab experiment gone wrong and, now, Biden’s administration has decided to look into the possibility.
Biden’s change of heart was prompted public outcry after the Wallstreet Journal released that three workers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized in November 2019 with coronavirus-like systems.
FACEBOOK TAKES ACTION
Facebook’s censorship followed suit to Biden’s recent actions. In February, The social-media giant announced that it expanded the list of misleading health claims that it would remove from its platforms to include those asserting that “COVID-19 is man-made or manufactured.”
A Facebook spokesperson told Politico, “In light of ongoing investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and in consultation with public health experts, we will no longer remove the claim that COVID-19 is man-made from our apps. We’re continuing to work with health experts to keep pace with the evolving nature of the pandemic and regularly update our policies as new facts and trends emerge.”