Contrary to its announcement in February that it would not hesitate to take down posts suggesting that Covid-19 is man-made, as well as other false claims, Facebook has now reversed the new policy.
Before now, Facebook has been consistent in pulling down misinforming posts and false claims about Covid-19. The new policy change was prompted after a recent 90 days order was given by President Joe Biden, mandating the US intelligence community to dig more into the root cause of the virus. Biden was triggered after it was found in a report that some researchers had been hospitalized in China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology after falling sick of the virus since November 2019.
“As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China. I have also asked that this effort include work by our National Labs and other agencies of our government to augment the Intelligence Community’s efforts. And I have asked the Intelligence Community to keep Congress fully apprised of its work,” Biden said.
Explaining further it’s decision, on Wednesday 26th of May, 2021, a Facebook spokesperson in a statement said, “In light of ongoing investigations into the origin of Covid-19 and in consultation with public health experts, we will no longer remove the claim that Covid-19 is man-made from our apps.”
“We’re continuing to work with health experts to keep pace with the evolving nature of the pandemic and regularly update our policies as new facts and trends emerge,” the spokesperson added.
