As COVID-19 vaccines roll out around the world, Facebook has stepped up its efforts to fight spam and disinformation that could potentially harm public health. However, many experts and advocates believe that the company’s efforts are too little, too late. According to a new report in Vox this week, medical misinformation has been thriving on Facebook for so long that the company will likely struggle to snuff it out.

Many experts have specifically criticized Facebook’s response for being more focused on protecting its business than helping users.

“No matter what the commitment is or the ideas made, at the end of the day… I can clearly see their priority was their job and the reputation of Facebook, versus the lives of Americans,” advocate Ethan Lindenberger told Vox.

For its part, Facebook touted its efforts to serve up accurate information to users and stop the spread of harmful info.

“For years, we’ve been working to stop misinformation on Facebook by reaching as many people as possible with accurate information about vaccines, removing content that breaks our rules, and reducing the distribution of false information,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

There’s no doubt that, over the past year, Facebook has improved its policies in this area. However, it’s also true that the company should’ve taken action about this problem before it became a full-scale crisis.

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