REVEALED: Facebook staff warned platform was a 'cesspool of anti-vaccine comments' that were hindering Zuckerberg's stated goal of promoting vaccines

 Facebook employees had warned CEO Mark Zuckerberg that his social media platform had compromised his goal to use the company to get 50 million people vaccinated against COVID-19

Zuckerberg had announced the initiative in March, showing off Facebook's ability to connect users with vaccine providers to help make appointments, as well as bring the service to its Instagram and WhatsApp subsidiaries. 

'This will be in the Covid Information Center, which we'll show people right in their News Feed. We've already seen people use Facebook to find vaccination appointments, so this should enable millions more people to do the same,' Zuckerberg wrote. 

But for months, Facebook's researches warned that comments on the vaccine-related posts that the platform was promoting were filled with antivaccine rhetoric aimed at undermining the message and any confidence in the vaccines, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, pictured in 2019, had wanted his social media company to help 50 million people get vaccinated. Internal memos from the company's researchers found that Facebook hindered the goal more than it helped

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, pictured in 2019, had wanted his social media company to help 50 million people get vaccinated. Internal memos from the company's researchers found that Facebook hindered the goal more than it helped

Zuckerberg said he wanted Facebook and its subsidiaries to help millions get vaccinated

Zuckerberg said he wanted Facebook and its subsidiaries to help millions get vaccinated 

Facebook posts against the vaccination effort were rampant online with at least 310 million comments posted every day

Facebook posts against the vaccination effort were rampant online with at least 310 million comments posted every day 

The internal documents obtained by the Journal reveal that even the World Health Organization and Unicef, who helped lead the push for a global vaccination effort, reached out to Facebook about the flood of negative comments on their posts.

'Anti-vaccine commenters that swarm their Pages,' one Facebook employee wrote in a memo. 

Another memo raised an alarm that about 41 per cent of comments on vaccine-related posts written in English were from those discouraging vaccinations.


That meant that of the 775 million daily comments on vaccine-related posts, about 310 million of them were pushing people away from vaccines. 

The millions of comments ranged from personal objections all the way to conspiracy theories. 

The researches dubbed the comments, 'barrier to vaccination' content and lamented at how people were using Facebook's own tool to sow doubt of the pandemic's threat and slow 'a top company priority.' 

Even authoritative sources of vaccine information were becoming 'cesspools of anti-vaccine comments,' the Facebook researchers wrote. 'That's a huge problem and we need to fix it.' 

The problems with anti-vaccine posts were also seen Facebook's subsidiary, Instagram

The problems with anti-vaccine posts were also seen Facebook's subsidiary, Instagram

Strong anti-vaccine and COVID-19 misinformation continue in the US. Pictured, an anit-vax protest in Santa Monica, California, on August 29

Strong anti-vaccine and COVID-19 misinformation continue in the US. Pictured, an anit-vax protest in Santa Monica, California, on August 29

Protestors continue to claim that vaccines are not necessary, with some calling COVID a hoax

Protestors continue to claim that vaccines are not necessary, with some calling COVID a hoax

In a statement, Facebook spokesman Aaron Simpson defended Facebook's work in promoting the vaccine and said the memo's were not sufficient evidence to say the company was failing in its mission. 

'We're focused on outcomes, and the data shows that for people in the U.S. on Facebook, vaccine hesitancy has declined by about 50% since January, and acceptance is high. 

'The documents show Facebook's 'routine process for dealing with difficult challenges.

'Narrowly characterizing leaked documents doesn't accurately represent the problem, and it also ignores the work that's been underway to make comments on posts about COVID-19 and vaccines safer and more reliable.' 

The reveal of the mass misinformation campaign on Facebook comes as the US reported more than 207,000 new COVID cases on Friday, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

The US also reported more than 2,600 new COVID deaths as the Delta variant rallies again after what appeared to be a slow down in early September. 

About 74 percent of all eligible Americans have gotten at least one jab of the vaccine so far.  

REVEALED: Facebook staff warned platform was a 'cesspool of anti-vaccine comments' that were hindering Zuckerberg's stated goal of promoting vaccines REVEALED: Facebook staff warned platform was a 'cesspool of anti-vaccine comments' that were hindering Zuckerberg's stated goal of promoting vaccines Reviewed by CUZZ BLUE on September 19, 2021 Rating: 5

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