Name: Health misinformation generated billions of Facebook views in the last year, study finds
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Health misinformation generated billions of Facebook views in the last year, study finds

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Speed Reads'threat to public health'Health misinformation is drawing a concerning number of eyes on Facebook, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study has found.The advocacy group Avaaz on Wednesday released a report estimating that networks spreading health misinformation generated roughly 3.8 billion views on Facebook in the last year, .The this health misinformation reached a peak in April 2020, when the networks drew about 460 million views, and only about 16 percent of the misinformation the study looked at actually received a warning label from Facebook. The study also found that the health misinformation had about four times as many views as content from leading health institutions like the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and that the platform's algorithm gives misinformation "an upper hand over authoritative health content."Facebook earlier this month that between April and June, it removed seven million posts from Facebook and Instagram for COVID-19 misinformation and attached warning labels to nearly 100 million others. But that, for instance, the viral conspiracy video "Plandemic," which promotes false claims about the coronavirus, was removed by the company only after it had racked up millions of shares.Based on its findings, Avaaz concludes that Facebook is "failing to keep people safe and informed" during the coronavirus crisis, while Avaaz campaign director Fadi Quran said, per The Hill, "Facebook's algorithm is a major threat to public health." A Facebook spokesperson told the Post, "We share Avaaz's goal of limiting misinformation, but their findings don't reflect the steps we've taken to keep it from spreading on our services."

Speed Reads'threat to public health'Health misinformation is drawing a concerning number of eyes on Facebook, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study has found.The advocacy group Avaaz on Wednesday released a report estimating that networks spreading health misinformation generated roughly 3.8 billion views on Facebook in the last year, .The this health misinformation reached a peak in April 2020, when the networks drew about 460 million views, and only about 16 percent of the misinformation the study looked at actually received a warning label from Facebook. The study also...

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Brendan is a staff writer at The Week. A graduate of Hofstra University with a degree in journalism, he also writes about horror films for Bloody Disgusting and has previously contributed to The Cheat Sheet, Heavy, WhatCulture, and more. He lives in New York City surrounded by Star Wars posters.

https://www.theweek.com/authors/brendan-morrow

Brendan Morrow

brendanmorrow

The Week is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition started in 2001; an Australian edition was published between 2008 and 2012. A children's edition, The Week Junior, has been published in the UK since 2015.

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Health misinformation generated billions of Facebook views in the last year, study finds

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