Facebook is accused of dragging its feet over fake posts about the Covid jab and comes under pressure to 'clean up its act'
Facebook was under fresh pressure to ‘clean up its act’ last night amid claims it dragged its feet over false posts about Covid jabs.
The social media giant sparked fury for allegedly failing to act over nearly two out of three misleading posts within 48 hours.
The figures emerged in previously unpublished correspondence between former Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and Facebook chief spin doctor Nick Clegg, the former Deputy Prime Minister and ex-Liberal Democrat leader.
The figures emerged in previously unpublished correspondence between former Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and Facebook chief spin doctor Nick Clegg, the former Deputy Prime Minister and ex-Liberal Democrat leader, pictured in 2019
Writing in November last year, Mr Dowden complained that since March 2020, Facebook only responded within 48 hours of his department ‘flagging misleading posts’ in just 30 per cent of cases.
The requests came from his department’s misinformation unit, which tells social media platforms when it identifies ‘dangerous and incorrect claims about the virus’.
Facebook took issue with the figures, claiming it responded ‘within hours’ to most reports from the Government.
Writing in November last year, Oliver Dowden, pictured in November this year, complained that since March 2020, Facebook only responded within 48 hours of his department ‘flagging misleading posts’ in just 30 per cent of cases.
It said the 30 per cent figure related to the number of times content was actually taken down – not the number of times Facebook responded.
Julian Knight, chairman of the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee, insisted Facebook had to ‘clean up its act’ and respond promptly to misleading posts ‘99.9 per cent’ of the time.
Mr Clegg, who reportedly earns £2.7million a year, praised the ‘increased tempo of engagement’ with the Government.
Facebook took issue with the figures, claiming it responded ‘within hours’ to most reports from the Government (file photo)
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