NEW YORK: Facebook has reportedly removed more than 1,800 users involved in spreading fake information about the coronavirus pandemic.
Recently, Facebook removed 1,887 fake accounts, pages, and groups on the platform as efforts to scrub the platform of falsehoods related to COVID-19 have not been sufficient to stop millions of people sharing, liking, and engaging with misinformation.
According to Facebook, the users were posing as news outlets and were using fake names as well as pictures. In April, the social media giant managed to flag 511 Facebook pages, 101 Facebook accounts, 56 Instagram accounts, and 122 Groups.
So far, Facebook said that, based on the work of independent fact-checking organizations, it had labeled 40 million Facebook posts with warnings that the content may be false.
Since the global crisis began in late December, coronavirus misinformation remains widespread on Facebook and its other digital platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp, often fueled by people’s desperate efforts to protect themselves from a global pandemic that, so far, has left more than 265,000 dead.
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