For example, the company will punish content that attempts to sell something as a miracle cure. The move is part of Facebook’s attempt to recover from several major controversies. From dubious data management to admitting its AI cannot prevent terrorist content, it’s been a tough 18 months for FB. Furthermore, the company is among a group of tech giants being criticized for the spread of fake content on their platforms. Last year, Facebook caught heat for allowing a “homemade cancer cure” to be ahead of genuine cancer information from noted organizations, such as cancer research foundations. With its latest decision, the company will actively seek to downgrade these kinds of posts. Recently, Facebook confirmed it will also downgrade content focused on anti-vaccine subjects. “In order to help people get accurate health information and the support they need, it’s imperative that we minimize health content that is sensational or misleading,” Facebook product manager Travis Yeh wrote in a blog post.
Crackdown
Two rankings were made last month to downgrade posts that exaggerate the health benefits of products. The network will purposefully seek out posts that are selling these products based on bogus claims. “In our ongoing efforts to improve the quality of information in News Feed, we consider ranking changes based on how they affect people, publishers, and our community as a whole,” Yeh added. “We know that people don’t like posts that are sensational or spammy, and misleading health content is particularly bad for our community.”
