Facebook Changes Stance On Coronavirus Posts Amid Renewed Efforts To Establish Origins
Facebook is no longer removing posts claiming that the coronavirus started in a lab amid renewed efforts among world leaders to establish the novel virus’ origins.
Facebook has been removing some posts on the coronavirus arguing that were deemed to lack backing evidence.
The coronavirus was first reported in the Chinese Province of Wuhan towards the end of 2019 and has since spread across the world killing millions of people.
Lisa Fazio, an assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, said the reversal shows the difficulty of fact-checking in general when experts can disagree and change their minds with new evidence. Fazio said:
_It’s one reason that content moderation shouldn’t be static: scientific consensus changes over time. It’s also a reminder to be humble and that for some questions the best current answer is ‘we don’t know yet’ or ‘it’s possible, but experts think it’s unlikely’._
Meanwhile, the president of the United States of America, Joe Biden has ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to double efforts towards establishing the origins of the coronavirus.
His predecessor, Donald Trump is still adamant that the virus was created in a Chinese lab.
The Biden administration is joining worldwide pressure for China to be more open about the outbreak.
- Trump’s Twitter, Facebook Accounts Blocked
- Twitter, Facebook Restrict Donald Trump’s Accounts Over Harmful COVID-19 Misinformation
- China Blocks WHO COVID-19 Experts From Investigating The Origin Of The Coronavirus
More: Pindula News; Al Jazeera; AP