For much of the past two years, Facebook has been in an ongoing fight to remove misinformation surrounding COVID-19 and vaccines. However, according to a UK-based nonprofit, Facebook has failed to implement its own policies to crack down on this content “at a very basic level.”

According to a study from ISD Global, an anti-vaccine group called the World Doctors Alliance has exploded in popularity since the pandemic began. And while the group was officially removed in July 2021, many of its members continue to post the same misinformation. To make matters worse, some experts believe that the problem is likely far worse than we know, most likely affecting millions of users across Facebook’s other platforms.

“I think it’s just a sliver of the pie, just a tiny part of how bad the actual problem is,” digital consultant Ben Decker told ABC News. “What about other [Facebook]-owned properties like Instagram and even worse, WhatsApp, where disinformation can spread really quickly because it’s already in these kind of baked-in trusted family and local communities?”

While Facebook has strong policies to address this kind of content, none of that matters if the platform can’t actually enforce its rules. Until there’s a seismic shift in content moderation technology, it’s likely that the social media giant will always be in a position of playing catch up.

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