Nuked Facebook research found that a small group of users is driving many of the discussions that may sow doubt or discouragement about taking a vaccine. Facebook research into’vaccine-hesitant’ beliefs found that some users are driving many discussions.
Who says vaccine hesitancy predates social media and covid-19. The who points out that vaccine hesitancy may not be wholly responsible for an the 30 percent increase in measles cases around the world over the past several years.
In December, Facebook announced it would remove false claims about covid-19 vaccines. It began notifying users if they had interacted with a post that had false information.
Comments like that could be used to better understand the vaccine’s impact, but could also make other users wary of the vaccine.
The study appears to confirm that there’s an echo chamber effect that helps spread misinformation on the platform. Content that helps create this effect may not run afoul of any of Facebook’s rules, but can quickly metastasize among groups of susceptible users.
The Facebook researchers found there was significant overlap between users connected to qanon conspiracy theories and the user communities who expressed skepticism about vaccines. qanon conspiracy theory was banned from the platform.
Facebook has partnered with more than 60 global health experts. The company has studied content related to covid-19 vaccine and other information to inform its policies.
