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In some cases, the groups titles themselves overtly pointed to misinformation, despite Facebooks stated policies.
See more on our datahere.
The groups discussion feed is mostly filled with anti-vaccine video testimonials fromthe far-right site BitChute.
Popular hashtags within the group include #ExposeCNN, #justsayno, and #wewillsupportyou.
In all, a total of 16 groups and pages filled with vaccine misinformation were recommended to our panelists.
Worldwide Health Freedom posted once in March, but before that its most recent post was in October.
These pages have from around 200 to 500 followers and have posts like No shots, no school?
Not true and for every human illness there exists a plant, which is the cure.
When users choose those pages, the recommendation rabbit hole continues.
During the pandemic, the companys policy shifts have become even more frequent.
Originally, Facebook said it wouldstop recommending groups that contained vaccine misinformation, in March 2019.
In October, it announced it wouldban vaccine misinformation in ads.
And in November it said it wouldtake down some of the biggest accountspeddling such content.
In February came the announcement of the site-wide purge.
The company said it would begin enforcing the policy immediately.
Its silly to claim that these actions are addressing misinformation in any way.
As recently as late April, Webb and her colleaguesfound 117 active groupson Facebook that they identified as anti-vaccine.
Combined, those groups had roughly 275,000 members.
Many of the groups explicitly called themselves anti-vaxx or anti-vaccine, according to Webb.
With health groups overall, Facebooks vow to stop recommendations has been particularly confusing.
The Whipple Surgery Survivor Group says its for people familiar with the surgery typically done to treat pancreatic cancer.
Other groups recommended to our panelists tout remedies that could run counter to medical professionals opinions.
Others encourage plastic surgery or 1,200-calorie-and-less diets.
One group, Meat Health, provides information and support around a carnivore diet.
Groups with a focus on positive health topics including fitness, wellness or personal development are still permitted.
They can figure out how to get around these things.
Up until last Thursday, the two groups were active, posting around a dozen times per day.
Both groups listed Erin Elizabeth as an admin.
On Thursday, Facebook deleted all of Elizabeths accounts, including her personal account.
It also stopped allowing anyone to post links from her business website.
Facebooks McAlister told The Markup that Elizabeths pages have been permanently removed because they violated company policies.
He didnt specify which policies the pages violated.
Elizabeth didnt respond to a request for comment.
Rona was often used for the coronavirus, and V was code for vaccine.
In the screenshot she scrubbed the words vaccine and vaccination.
She added a message to the post that said, Theyre coming for the kids…
If you wanna discuss this join me over it [sic] censorship proof Telegram.
And despite removing Elizabeths groups, Facebook has resisted taking down the accounts of other notable anti-vaccine activists.
The evidence supporting the Wuhan lab leak is overwhelming.
CCDH did not respond to a request for comment.
Facebook alsogot a letterfrom Sens.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) wrote Facebook too,detailing his concerns about anti-vaccination groupson its site.
Facebook has previously committed to reducing the spread of misinformation on its platforms, Warner wrote.
However, despite these promises, Facebooks enforcement of its own policies is consistently and demonstrably insufficient.
This article by Corin Faife and Dara Kerr wasoriginally published on The Markupand was republished under theCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivativeslicense.
