Idaho Chiropractor Caught Peddling False Coronavirus Cures On Facebook

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the world, Facebook has taken proactive steps to eliminate fake content and fraudulent advertisements about the virus. However, that doesn’t mean that all of this content is detected. For instance, this week, reporters from BuzzFeed News found a chiropractor in Idaho making claims that a “silver spray” product he was selling could prevent COVID-19 infections.

Thankfully, Facebook removed this content — but only after it was alerted by the reporters. Disturbingly, the chiropractor in question has over 70,000 followers, and according to social media analysis firm CrowdTangle, his videos about the COVID-19 pandemic have achieved the highest engagement rate of anything he’s posted. That’s why it’s so critical for Facebook and other large tech platforms to snuff out this content before it can reach too many people.

“These videos violate our policies,” a Facebook spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. “We’ve disabled this ad account and removed this page. We remove misinformation about COVID-19 that makes false claims about cures, treatments, the availability of essential services or the location and severity of the outbreak — this includes ads.”

Because of its sheer size, Facebook will never be able to catch every bad actor on its platform. But the punishments for those who violate its rules — especially during a public health crisis — should probably be more severe.




Recommended Resources

bitdefender The Choice of Tech Experts Worldwide. Try 90 days free of Bitdefender 2020 and experience the highest level of digital safety.

PIAPrivate Internet Access is an award-winning, cost-effective VPN solution. The use of an anonymous and trusted VPN is essential to your online privacy, security and identity protection.

System Mechanic 14 – Make your computer run like new. Winner of 200+ Editor’s Choice awards!

Facebook Wants To Automatically Share Your Location With Friends Previous post Facebook Wants To Automatically Share Your Location With Friends Facebook Says It’s Blocking A Million Accounts Per Day To Safeguard Election Next post Facebook Says It’s Blocking A Million Accounts Per Day To Safeguard Election