Facebook is rolling out a new COVID-19 label about treatments without scientific proof, as it already does with COVID-19 information overall.
With this, when a user posts about a medication that the World Health Organization has not approved as a treatment for SARS-CoV-2 — which doesn’t exist yet — it will appear with a message reading: “Some unapproved COVID-19 treatments can cause serious harm.”
Since the start of the pandemic, many people spread on the internet that chloroquine, ivermectin, and other medications could work as a COVID treatment.
Starting in the following weeks, Facebook confirmed to 9to5Mac that these labels will appear for English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Indonesian, and Arabic speakers all over the world and link to Facebook’s COVID-19 Information Center. This will appear on Instagram as well.
The company says that it works alongside fact-checking agencies so every time a post is marked as fake news, they’re labeled on Facebook and Instagram and stop being seen by other users.
Recently, Facebook started to promoted vaccine information as well as encouraging users to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it’s available. With new frames available to customize your profile picture, you can let your friends know when you take the vaccine.
Research shows that social norms can have a major impact on people’s attitudes and behaviors when it comes to their health. We know people are more likely to get a vaccine when they see many people they trust are doing it.
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