After last year’s outrages of Cambridge Analytica and Russian trolls, this time the Facebook controversies have issues of concern regarding “anti-vaccine information” and “health privacy.”
Last week, when reporters described that Facebook allows advertisers to target people who have shown interest in anti-vaccine information. Millions have viewed the anti-vaccine advertisements promoted on Facebook.
In fact, Adam Schiff, Democratic Rep. of California, sent an official letter to the company requesting it to cut down the flow of the misinformation being spread about vaccination.
Facebook found itself in another muddle related to health care where the users form a group to openly discuss their medical conditions. If that was not enough, Facebook has been accused of inappropriately disclosing medical information about its users, putting their privacy at stake. In fact, last month, a complaint has been filed with the Federal Trade Commission.
When Facebook was asked to react about this, a spokesperson explained that it is not fundamentally about privacy and Facebook makes clear to all the users that information is visible to the people of a given group.
When it comes to anti-vaccine information, a spokesperson told that Facebook has taken necessary steps to reduce and prevent the distribution of any misinformation related to health care and medicine, and it knows it has to do more.
Facebook officials told Bloomberg that it is also taking precautions when it comes to demoting such misinformation in the search results and if they found any, they will block it.
The site’s intense health and medical-related issues highlight the deep sense of disbelief with which many people now regard Facebook.
