Facebook's vague rules for removing content are keeping unproven and often unsafe COVID treatment groups active
- On Facebook, private groups are sharing info about finding and taking unproven COVID treatments like the drug Ivermectin.
- Groups are skirting Facebook's moderation by using language that obscures their intent.
- Ivermectin isn't recommended as a treatment for COVID-19, and the CDC issued a warning about its use in humans.
Starting in March, poison control centers in the United States saw a spike in call volume related to a drug commonly used for de-worming horses: Ivermectin.
The drug was being taken by people for treating COVID-19, despite never being tested as a treatment and never being suggested as a treatment by health officials. Taken in a large enough quantity, Ivermectin is a poison that can cause seizures, coma, lung issues, and heart problems, according to the Missouri Poison Center.
Months later, when a group founded by a Capitol riot defendant named America's Frontline Doctors began selling the drug as a false treatment for COVID-19, its popularity exploded - especially among Americans who were skeptical of COVID vaccines.
Many of those folks turned to Facebook, primarily through private groups, to find the drug.
Though Facebook has removed some of the groups, they persist. A search for "ivermectin" on Facebook produces a number of groups of people discussing the purchase and use of the drug as a treatment for COVID-19.
"None of this is medical advice, nor am I advocating the use of unprescribed medication," one such group's description reads. "This is about user experiences with COVID."
The group description includes specific directions for both preventive and symptomatic applications, down to weight measurements and dose regimen, but has no flag from Facebook for containing misinformation.
When Media Matters examined the spread of Ivermectin-related misinformation on Facebook in late August, it found dozens of groups with nearly 70,000 collective members sharing misinformation.
In the days since, Facebook has begun labeling some posts with a tag specifically regarding "unapproved COVID-19 treatments," like the one seen below:
A Facebook spokesperson told Insider in a statement that the company removes "content that attempts to buy, sell, donate or ask for Ivermectin."
Additionally, the company said it doesn't allow "ads promoting Ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19," and will remove "any account or group that violates our COVID-19 and vaccine policies, including claims that Ivermectin is a guaranteed cure or guaranteed prevention."
This specificity of phrasing may be why some groups, which intentionally skirt that language yet are still specifically laying out directions for taking Ivermectin as a preventive or a cure for COVID-19, have yet to be removed. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has spoken to the issues his company faces with moderating the nuances of speech as recently as this year.
When moderating hate speech, for instance, Zuckerberg said, "we need to be clear about when someone is saying something because they're using it in a hateful way versus when they're denouncing it." Facebook largely relies on AI to police much of its content.
"More than 95% of the hate speech that we take down is done by an AI and not by a person," Zuckerberg said during a congressional hearing on misinformation in March. "And I think it's 98 or 99% of the terrorist content that we take down is identified by an AI and not a person."
If you believe you or a loved one has taken a large dose of ivermectin, call your local poison center or call 911.
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