Facebook probe by DC official targets vaccine misinformation

Facebook is being investigation a US attorney general on whether its taken adequate measures to curb misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccines. — Bloomberg

Facebook Inc. is under investigation by the attorney general for the District of Columbia over whether it has taken adequate steps to curb the spread of misinformation about vaccines.

Attorney General Karl Racine is seeking internal documents that show how the social media giant penalises users who violate its misinformation policies around vaccines, as well as materials related to a Facebook study about vaccine hesitancy among users, according to a copy of a subpoena issued by Racine’s office last month.

The subpoena also demanded data on the total volume of content that has been removed or demoted by Facebook for violating its vaccine misinformation policies.