Meta to roll back Covid-19 misinformation measures

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is rolling back its COVID-19 misinformation rules in countries that have rescinded the national emergency status of the pandemic, such as the U.S.

According to various reports from The Verge and Washington Post, this decision comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) ended its global emergency declaration on May 5. Meta's misinformation rules will no longer be applied globally, but will be tailored by region, depending on the status of the pandemic in each area.

The company had previously sought the opinion of its independent oversight board, advising Meta to reassess what misinformation it removes and to increase transparency about government requests to remove COVID-19, as reported by Engadget. In response, Meta has stated that it will be "consulting with internal and external experts" promising to share details about local enforcement in "future quarterly updates."

However, the rules will stand in countries that still have a COVID-19 public health emergency declaration, and Meta "will continue to remove content that violates our COVID misinformation policies." The company wrote in a blog post that it will consult with experts in order to "understand which claims and categories of misinformation could continue to pose a risk."

Sites like Twitter and YouTube have faced immense pressure to deal with COVID-19 misinformation, including false claims about vaccines. However, Twitter stopped enforcing its own misinformation rules shortly after CEO Elon Musk bought it in November 2022. Youtube has also recently changed its rules around election misinformation.