In order to limit the spread of COVID-19 and mitigate serious health effects and deaths, Meta joined with other major platforms at the height of the pandemic to slow the dissemination of dangerous misinformation and disinformation. This coincided with the national spotlight on the tech industry’s role in communication and public opinion concerning other societal issues, including election coverage and child welfare, pressuring companies to take a more active role in protecting users.
As the COVID-19 pandemic worsened and misinformation proliferated, including inaccurate claims about vaccines and causes of the virus, Meta joined platforms like Twitter and YouTube to create official rules on what could and could not be posted. However, as COVID-19 cases and deaths across the globe declined, Twitter stopped enforcing its policy late last year. With national governments and the WHO now taking a more lax approach to the pandemic, Meta and other platforms also seem ready to move on.
While COVID-19 cases are lower than they were two years ago, thousands of Americans testing positive for the disease are admitted to the hospital each day, with the elderly still especially vulnerable despite being vaccinated. More concentrated outbreaks are also possible in the future, so Meta and other platforms’ policies may again be amended down the line. In the meantime, Meta’s misinformation policy will remain in place in areas where COVID-19 is still an official public health emergency.
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